RootsMagic 12's AI Prompt Builder

Have You Tried It?

Have you experimented with artificial intelligence (AI) in your genealogy research? Have you wondered how AI might work with the information you've already entered into your genealogy software?

With the release of RootsMagic 12, users have an improved feature to explore: the AI Prompt Builder.

Since upgrading to RootsMagic 12, I've been experimenting with this feature. Rather than writing a separate blog post about each experiment, I decided to share some of my experiences and encourage other RootsMagic users to try it with their own family history data.

After all, what works well with one genealogy database might produce very different results with another.

What Is the AI Prompt Builder?

RootsMagic 12 includes an AI Prompt Builder that helps users prepare information from their genealogy database for use with artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT.

Instead of starting with a blank screen and trying to decide what to ask AI, RootsMagic creates a prompt based on information in your database.

The available prompts vary depending on whether you're working with a person, family, source, or place.

For example, you might use a prompt to:

• Create a biography or family narrative.

• Develop a timeline of family events.

• Explore the historical context surrounding an ancestor's life.

• Analyze research and suggest additional avenues to investigate.

• Evaluate or summarize a source.

• Identify possible research opportunities associated with a particular place.

The feature provides a convenient starting point for experimenting with AI and genealogy.

However, there is something important to understand: the quality of the AI response depends heavily on the information RootsMagic includes in the prompt.

Learning About the AI Prompt Builder

RootsMagic has created a YouTube video demonstrating the AI Prompt Builder and how to use it.

If you haven't explored this feature, I encourage you to watch the video before beginning your own experiments.

Then open your RootsMagic database, select an ancestor, family, source, or place, and investigate the available prompts.

You don't have to be an expert at writing AI prompts to get started.

My Experiments with an Ancestor

For several of my experiments, I used my ancestor James Marshall Ricketts (1847–1920).

James served in the Civil War, married Rachel Elmeda Christy in Indiana in 1866, and eventually moved with his family to Kansas.

I've researched this family extensively, so I already have considerable information in my RootsMagic database.

That made James a useful subject for testing the AI Prompt Builder. I could compare the AI-generated results with what I already knew about his life.

Biographies and Historical Context

One of my first experiments involved using the AI Prompt Builder to create a biography of my ancestor James Marshall Ricketts.

For some time, I've been using ChatGPT to help write my ABC Biographies series. My usual process is to generate a narrative report in RootsMagic, save it as a PDF, and upload that report to ChatGPT. I then ask ChatGPT to turn the genealogical information into a readable biography.

This approach has worked well for me because the narrative report provides a more complete picture of the ancestor's life, including events, dates, locations, and family relationships.

When I experimented with RootsMagic's AI-generated biography prompts, I compared the results with the biographies created using my usual method.

My conclusion? I prefer the ABC Biographies created from the RootsMagic narrative reports.

The AI Prompt Builder can produce a readable biography, but I found that providing ChatGPT with the more detailed narrative report resulted in a biography that better reflected the research I've already completed.

I also experimented with the Historical Context prompt, which suggested ways to connect James's life with broader historical events.

While this can add interest to a family story, it also requires caution. Just because an event occurred during an ancestor's lifetime doesn't mean that ancestor experienced it or was directly affected by it.

For now, I plan to continue using my narrative reports as the starting point for my ABC Biographies. However, I can see the Historical Context prompt being useful for identifying historical topics that might enrich those stories—after additional research and verification.

Once again, the lesson is that the information supplied to AI is often more important than the wording of the prompt. involved asking AI to analyze my research and suggest additional records to investigate.

Some suggestions were reasonable. However, the AI also recommended researching records I had already examined.

Why?

Because the prompt didn't provide the AI with everything I knew about James. Even though my RootsMagic database contained source citations, that didn't necessarily mean the AI had access to the contents of those sources.

This experiment reinforced an important lesson:

A source citation is not the same as the evidence contained in the source.

AI cannot evaluate information it hasn't been given.

Experimenting with Family Timelines

One of my more revealing experiments involved creating a timeline for James Marshall Ricketts, his wife Rachel, and their children.

I tried both the Family Timeline and Family Narrative prompts.

Even when I selected the option to include all events, the resulting prompt contained surprisingly little information. It identified the family members and their birth and death years, but the only event listed in the family events section was the parents' marriage.

Naturally, ChatGPT could create only a limited timeline from that information.

Then I tried something different.

I generated a two-generation narrative report in RootsMagic and saved it as a PDF. The report contained 17 pages of information about James, Rachel, their children, and their children's spouses.

I uploaded that report directly to ChatGPT and gave it a simple instruction to create a family timeline, including the children's marriages while excluding events that involved only their spouses.

The result was much more useful.

The timeline included James's military service, the family's migration from Indiana to Kansas, land transactions, census records, marriages, and other events.

It even incorporated a 1907 family gathering involving James's brother Louis Ricketts, who traveled from Indiana to visit.

The difference wasn't a complicated AI prompt.

The difference was the amount of information available to AI.

This experiment also reminded me that a traditional RootsMagic narrative report can be a valuable tool for working with AI.

What About Sources?

I also experimented with two prompts associated with sources: Source Evaluation and Source Summary.

For these experiments, I selected my source for Kansas County Marriages, 1840–1935, a FamilySearch collection linked to numerous marriages in my database.

The Source Evaluation prompt asked AI to consider the reliability of the source, its origin, purpose, and possible biases.

The resulting report discussed the general reliability of county marriage records and the importance of examining original documents.

The Source Summary prompt produced a report describing the marriages linked to that source and their genealogical value.

Both reports were reasonable, but I didn't find them particularly useful.

The problem was that RootsMagic supplied the source citation and a list of linked marriage events—not the actual marriage records.

Consequently, AI couldn't examine the documents or determine whether the information had been recorded correctly.

The Source Summary largely reorganized information already available in my database.

For me, these prompts were less useful than working directly with an image or transcription of an original record.

However, someone just beginning to learn about genealogical source evaluation might find the explanations helpful.

Research Suggestions for a Place

Another promising-sounding option was Research Suggestions for a place.

I selected Garrard County, Kentucky, because I've spent years researching my Crawford ancestors and their connections to the Sellers, Maxwell, Douglas, and other families in that area.

RootsMagic supplied a list of births and marriages associated with Garrard County.

The resulting AI report suggested examining marriage bonds, land records, tax lists, probate records, census records, and other resources.

Those are all reasonable suggestions.

The AI also recognized that Garrard County wasn't established until 1796, even though several births in my database were assigned to that location before the county existed.

That was a useful reminder about historical jurisdictions.

However, much of the report resembled a general county research checklist.

It didn't know which records I'd already examined or which research questions I was trying to answer.

How Does It Compare with the FamilySearch Research Wiki?

After generating the place research suggestions, I compared the report with the freely available FamilySearch Research Wiki page for Garrard County, Kentucky.

The comparison raised an interesting question.

If the AI recommends searching marriage, land, probate, and tax records, but the FamilySearch Research Wiki already provides information about available records and where to find them, how much additional value does the AI report provide?

For my research, the Wiki is a more practical starting point for locating records.

The AI prompt can draw attention to surnames and events in my database, but it doesn't automatically know which sources I've already used.

I can see the potential for combining the two approaches: using the Wiki to identify available records and AI to compare those resources with my existing research.

That would be a more meaningful research strategy than simply asking AI for a general list of suggestions.

What Have I Learned?

My experiments have reinforced several lessons about using AI with genealogy.

First, the information supplied to AI matters. A well-written prompt cannot compensate for missing information.

Second, a polished report isn't necessarily a useful report. AI can produce an impressive-looking analysis that contains little beyond what was already provided.

Third, AI doesn't automatically know what research I've completed. Unless that information is included in the prompt, it may recommend work I've already done.

Fourth, traditional genealogy tools still have value. In my family timeline experiment, a RootsMagic narrative report provided far more useful information than the automatically generated prompt.

And finally, AI-generated information needs to be verified. Whether AI is writing a biography, suggesting historical context, or analyzing a source, the genealogist remains responsible for evaluating the evidence.

Now It's Your Turn!

Even though some of my experiments produced disappointing results, I'm glad RootsMagic has introduced the AI Prompt Builder.

It provides an opportunity for genealogists to learn about AI and discover how it might fit into their research.

And I certainly haven't tested every available prompt.

If you use RootsMagic 12, I encourage you to conduct your own experiments.

Start with an ancestor you know well. Try a biography or historical context prompt and compare the results with your research.

Then try the same type of prompt with an ancestor for whom you have relatively little information. Does the quality of the response change?

Experiment with a family timeline. Compare the results from the AI Prompt Builder with those obtained by uploading a RootsMagic narrative report.

Try a source or place prompt. Does it provide useful information, or does it simply reorganize what you already know?

Most importantly, ask yourself whether the results actually help you with your genealogy research.

You might discover a prompt that works wonderfully with your database—or you might identify limitations similar to those I've encountered.

Either result is worth sharing.

Let's Learn from Each Other

I'm interested in hearing about other genealogists' experiences with RootsMagic's AI Prompt Builder.

Have you tried it? Which prompts have you found useful? Have any of the results surprised you?

Perhaps you've discovered a way to use the feature that I haven't considered.

One of the advantages of experimenting with new technology is learning from others who are trying different approaches.

I hope you'll watch the RootsMagic video, explore the AI Prompt Builder, and share what you discover.

After all, the goal isn't simply to generate more reports.

The goal is to find better ways to research, understand, and share our family histories.