An intriguing tweet from Denys Allen gives a five-step recipe for producing a first-draft family history from a timeline using ChatGPT. https://twitter.com/denys_allen/status/1650513345051521028
I tried it using Bing Chat. It made a bold attempt at a life story for an individual in my family tree.
I’d forgotten to include the name, so it made one up.
It made up a name for his father who I’d mentioned was a Jewish immigrant. It assumed he was from Poland and so was his wife. Not true
It wrote his father was a merchant. Not true, he was a teacher.
I mentioned he was killed at YPRES III and it wrote he was hit by shrapnel and buried with the marker a Star of David. He was killed there, the rest is fantasy.
There were several other things it simply made up.
I was able, in stages, to edge it toward a more accurate biography by adding additional information, mentioning what was false, and asking for a rewrite.
I’m sure it would have done better given a more complete timeline, which would take about as much effort as writing the final product.
No surprise to me…I wouldn’t be trusting ChatGPT for anything like this…there’s so much more that goes into the writing process than just stringing together a series of words to tell a story.
I agree with Teresa. Those of us that write, for genealogy societies and historical societies use much more when writing than looking for appropriate fits with words. Aaaarh.