I’m excited to share that we have updated our Research Like a Pro with AI genealogy workbook! This second edition has all the latest updates in how artificial intelligence can be used for genealogical research and writing. What took the longest to update was understanding ALL the new features released by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Perplexity in the last year. The pace this technology is advancing is astonishing.

Comparison Report: Research Like a Pro with AI – 2025 vs. 2026 Second Edition

I uploaded both editions of the book to NotebookLM and Gemini generated a comparison. Here is the comparison!

Updated AI Models & New Frameworks

• The Latest Models: The workbook shifts focus from the models of early 2025 (like GPT-4 and Claude 3) to the most powerful models available as of mid-February 2026, specifically highlighting ChatGPT 5.2, Claude Opus 4.6, and Gemini 3.
• A New Way to Think About AI: The new edition introduces a conceptual framework by Ethan Mollick that distinguishes between Models (the underlying brain), Apps (the interface), and Harnesses/Wrappers (systems that allow the model to take real-world actions).
• Expanded Comparison Tools: The single comparison table from 2025 has been replaced with two highly detailed tables comparing both AI App features (Table 1.1) and Integrations/Auxiliary Tools (Table 1.2).

 

The Rise of “Agentic” Browsers

The most significant leap forward in the 2026 edition is the introduction of autonomous agents. While the 2025 edition relied on manual chat prompting, the new edition teaches users how to use harnesses like Claude in Chrome, Perplexity Comet, Chrome Auto Browse, and ChatGPT Atlas.

• Autonomous Pedigree Analysis: Agents can now actively click through and expand family tree lines to find research gaps on your behalf.
• Locality Research: Agents can navigate library catalogs (like the Library of Virginia or the FamilySearch Catalog), extract relevant collections, and automatically compile the results into a new Google Doc.
• Executing Research Plans: The book provides case studies of agents (like Claude in Chrome) autonomously executing a research plan on from a Google Doc, evaluating the findings, and filling out the results directly into the Google Doc.
• Logging Research: Agentic browsers like Claude in Chrome can extract details from a screenshot and log the results in an Airtable or Google Sheets research log.

 

Expanded Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) Section

The 2025 edition primarily covered Transkribus and FamilySearch’s Full Text Search. The 2026 edition massively expands this to include new and specialized tools:

• Gemini in Googl AI Studio: The developer’s playground at Google provides the most accurate reuslts.
• Archive Studio: A free, open-source tool connecting directly to API models.
• HandwritingOCR.com: A specialized tool supporting over 300 languages.
• Leo: An AI web app fine-tuned specifically for paleography and deciphering historical handwriting.
• Kindex: An online platform featuring a new “Auto-Index Service”.
• Ancestry.com Image Transcript: A new beta tool for transcribing records stored in user galleries.

 

Native AI in Genealogy Platforms & Productivity Apps

The new edition includes a dedicated section on leveraging AI built directly into the tools genealogists already use.

• Genealogy Platforms: Covers Ancestry’s “Ideas” and AI Stories, FamilySearch’s AI Research Assistant, and MyHeritage’s AI Biographer.
• Goldie May: Extensively covers the Goldie May browser extension’s AI assistant for tasks like transcribing screenshots, suggesting research plans, and automatic logging.
• Airtable Omni: Introduces Airtable’s new Omni sidebar chatbot, which can see an entire base, synthesize information across multiple rows, and auto-generate timeline events.

 

Deeper Integration & Accessibility of Airtable AI

• Free Access to Airtable AI: The 2025 edition explicitly stated that generative AI tools in Airtable required a paid subscription. The 2026 edition announces that free Airtable users now receive 500 AI credits per month, making these features much more accessible for beginners.
• Introduction of “Field Agents”: The 2026 edition shifts from generic text generation to building specific “Field Agents.” For example, users can now create an agent in their research log that specifically uses Gemini 3 to automatically transcribe any document image uploaded to an attachment field.
• Omni for Cross-Row Correlation: While AI previously analyzed one row at a time, the 2026 edition highlights Airtable’s new Omni sidebar. Omni can look at an entire table and synthesize evidence across multiple rows (e.g., pulling together scattered land and tax records to build a case for a parent-child relationship)

 

Crucial Privacy Updates & New Editing Tools

• Major Privacy Policy Reversal: The 2026 edition alerts users that Claude now trains on user data by default (as of September 2025), a direct reversal from the 2025 edition.
• Incognito Mode: Includes options for temporary chats so data isn’t used for training and the conversation isn’t saved to your history.
• Deep Research Paywalls & Limits: The 2026 edition updates the availability of “Deep Research” features. It notes that Claude now offers a research feature to paid users. It also outlines the highly specific limits placed on these resource-heavy queries (e.g., ChatGPT allows 5 “lightweight” deep research queries per month for free users, while Perplexity allows 1 per month for free users).

 

New and Updated Tools

• Claude Custom Skills: The 2025 edition only featured Claude “Projects”. The 2026 edition introduces Claude’s new “Custom Skills.” The book notes these are even more powerful than ChatGPT’s Custom GPTs because multiple skills can be saved to your account and Claude will automatically detect and combine the relevant skills depending on the specific conversation.
• NotebookLM as an Editor: Adds practical instructions on using Google’s NotebookLM to edit research reports for grammar, readability, and adherence to the Chicago Manual of Style.

 

Expanded Multimedia: Audio, Video, and Spatial Grounding

• NotebookLM YouTube Integration: The 2026 edition highlights NotebookLM’s ability to process YouTube videos. Genealogists can paste a YouTube link into their notebook, and the AI will retrieve the transcript, answer questions about the video’s content, and provide direct quotes.
• Audio/Video File Transcription: The 2026 updated comparison tables add specific tracking for audio and video transcription capabilities, noting that Gemini and Perplexity natively support this feature, whereas ChatGPT and Claude do not.
• Advanced Spatial Grounding (MMMU Pro Benchmark): The 2026 edition adds a technical explanation for why Gemini 3 is so good at reading complex historical documents. It details Gemini’s “spatial grounding” capabilities and its high score on the “MMMU Pro Benchmark,” which tests how well an AI understands the physical relationship of objects and text in an image.

 

In summary, the 2026 Second Edition of Research Like a Pro with AI marks a major leap from manual AI prompting to autonomous, integrated research workflows. By introducing “agentic” browsers that can independently navigate and extract records, expanding the arsenal of specialized handwriting recognition tools, and highlighting native AI assistants built directly into platforms like Airtable and Goldie May, this edition equips genealogists with cutting-edge efficiency. Coupled with essential updates on the most powerful new models (like ChatGPT 5.2, Claude Opus 4.6, and Gemini 3) and critical shifts in privacy policies, the second edition serves as an indispensable guide for leveraging the rapid evolution of AI to break down genealogical brick walls.

To purchase the workbook go to: Research Like a Pro with AI Workbook – Second Edition (eBook). We will be selling a limited number of spiral bound copies of the workbook at RootsTech in booth #210 (Family Locket). See you there! Those who won’t be at RootsTech can purchase the ebook which includes a printable file along with the ebook so you can print and bind one copy for yourself.