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Steve Little

@digitalarchivst.bsky.social

1.3K followers 1.4K following 130 posts

AI Program Director, National Genealogical Society; Family History AI Show podcast; Founder: AIGenealogyInsights.com Husband, Dad, birder, chess dilettante, film & TV fan, AI & genetic genealogist, Methodist pastor, photog, reader, writer, skygazer, NC, VA

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Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · Nov 14

"While large language models excel at pattern recognition and insight generation, TODAY they cannot (do not?) verify facts in real-time. Treat their outputs — both factual claims and their supporting references — as sophisticated research leads requiring independent verification." ... 1/3 🧵

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Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · 16d

Mollick uses the word 'weird' frequently to describe LLMs, and I get it.

Here's a complementary technique to preface your meta-prompting: "Research and articulate the basic use and best practices of [METHODOLOGY or TOOL]." This gets good information into the context window and into your prompt.

Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · 16d

Asking a model to critique or improve your prompts--called "meta-prompting"--is a strong and good use of these tools. And both OpenAI and Anthropic has tools to help you craft better prompts.
console.anthropic.com/dashboard

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Reposted by Steve Little

The Formidable Genealogist @formidablegen.bsky.social · 17d

I think this is my favorite use of ChatGPT so far.

Get the guide here: www.theformidablegenealogist.com/product-page...

#genealogy

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Reposted by Steve Little

The Formidable Genealogist @formidablegen.bsky.social · 19d

Anyone can learn to use this.

Get it here: www.theformidablegenealogist.com/product-page...
#genealogy

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Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · Sep 14

Mark Thompson wrote about how to disclose image edits with citations: makingfamilyhistory.com/responsible-...
#genealogy

Responsible AI Photo Restoration | Making Family History

AI tools can restore faded and damaged family photos. They can also change important historical details. Learn to use these powerful tools responsibly.

makingfamilyhistory.com

Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · Sep 14

The barrier between an idea and a compelling image has essentially disappeared.

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Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · Sep 12

Here's the link to the full prompt, and a bit of backstory about the model and method: aigenealogyinsights.com/2025/09/12/f...

Fun Prompt Friday: Image Editing – AI Genealogy Insights

aigenealogyinsights.com

Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · Sep 12

Here's a prompt to add a spectral wire sculpture to an image, inspired by the context and contents of the image (link to full prompt in first comment).

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Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · Jun 14

The prompt to generate the image was itself crafted with a strong writer, o3, and is interesting to read in its own.
I crafted the prompt below with an earlier version of OpenAI's o3 model. The image was generated with their GPT-4o model. (Full prompt in image.)

Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · Jun 14

Virginia’s Great Seal (1776)—devised by revolutionaries George Wythe and George Mason—shows the Roman goddess Virtus, spear grounded, sword poised, standing over a deposed, crown-fallen tyrant; its motto “Sic semper tyrannis” (“Thus always to tyrants”) proclaims unending resistance to oppression.

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Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · Jun 11

Predicted, now here: GPT-4o generates accurate in-image text. However, "AI Reconstruction" by GPT-4o prompts debate: what do we call these things?!?

Image: The man on the left is my grandfather; the man on the right is not.

aigenealogyinsights.com/2025/06/10/e...

Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · Jun 11

Ep.25 of Family History AI Show: GPT-4o’s photorealism & OpenAI’s o3 geolocation reasoning impress—accurate within blocks. Plus, Google Gemini Veo 3 hints at next-gen video/audio generation.

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Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · Jun 5

The Grammarly response was interesting: the service reported that the phrase was not plagiarized, but it also assured me it was not AI generated.

Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · Jun 5

That struck me. It crystallized the text, but is quite poetic compared to its source, an academic passage on ethics (Liautaud's Power). It sounded so good, I thought I'd check Google (zero hits on the phrase) and Grammarly.

Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · Jun 5

Some models are better with words than others. I was using OpenAI's o3 to help me understand some text, so I prompted a summary, and it responded:

"ignorance is the seedbed of unintended harm"

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Reposted by Steve Little

Reclaim The Records @reclaimtherecords.org · May 29

You guys...? We did it. 🥰

We won the FULL NEW YORK STATE DEATH INDEX FOR 1880-2017!

We beat the largest government agency in the state of New York (@nysdoh.bsky.social), in the highest court of the state, through a Freedom of Information Law (#FOIL) suit.
www.reclaimtherecords.org/records-requ...

The FULL New York State Death Index, 1880-2017 - Reclaim The Records

www.reclaimtherecords.org

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Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · May 23

Your questions go to the top of the list. The role of subject matter experts is vital; you see first and best where these tools currently fall short technically and where unintended, unseen, or overlooked consequences may be lurking. Can't promise easy answers but crucial all are aware of questions.

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Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · May 23

Guiding Principles for Responsible AI in Genealogy: craigen.org

NGS Family History Conference: conference.ngsgenealogy.org/agenda/

Coalition for Responsible AI in Genealogy

craigen.org

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Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · May 23

Ask Hard Questions! Drop your toughest AI-in-genealogy questions below. Ahead of Sunday’s NGS panel on Guiding AI Principles—Accuracy, Disclosure, Privacy, Education, Compliance—I’ll be on stage with Lynn Broderick and BCG president David Ouimette. What should we tackle? ⬇️

Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · May 15

o3 make geolocation trivial.
chatgpt.com/share/6825e9...

Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · Apr 22

My improv on "Please" and "Thank you": the wink.😉

Reposted by Steve Little

Rick @rickylongthread.bsky.social · Apr 19

Tonight is the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s midnight ride. May his memory remind us all to resist the tyranny forming in our government.

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Reposted by Steve Little

Christine McCloud @geneapleau.bsky.social · Apr 6

#genchat More on ethics & #Genealogy

Brenda Leyndyke @kzoobrenda.bsky.social · Apr 5

Do you use AI in your genealogical writing or research? Check out Ethical AI for Genealogists buff.ly/3mb23Pa for tips on being transparent and writing disclosure statements. #GenealogyBlogging #AIandGenealogy #Genealogy #EthicsinGenealogy

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Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · Apr 3

Kevin Borland’s original introduction of Linka: www.facebook.com/kevin.borlan...
@kevinborland.bsky.social

Andrew’s webinar on saved prompts: familytreewebinars.com/webinar/gpts...
@andrewredfern.bsky.social
from Legacy Family Tree Webinars, 8pm EDT, Thur 3 April 2025

Kevin Borland

Meet Linka. She's the robot that wrote the code that allows one's Borland Genetics "Virtual Reality Chromosome Browser" animation to be shared with other users, an upcoming feature on the site....

www.facebook.com

Steve Little @digitalarchivst.bsky.social · Apr 3

Meet Linka, an AI assistant introduced by Borland Genetics, who helps Kevin Borland code the site to help users. If you'd like to learn how beginners can create your own AI assistants, Andrew Redfern is teaching a free webinar on saved prompts. #genealogy

Details on both in comments. 🔗⬇️

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