Hi friends! You may have heard the news about MyHeritage launching it’s AI Agent, Gaia (Genealogical AI Agent) last Wednesday the 4th. I took it out for a spin over the weekend, and here’s the scoop:

What is Gaia?

Gaia is an AI Agent, a small genealogy-specific AI program built inside of MyHeritage. To use Gaia, you’ll need a MyHeritage account, but not necessarily a paid one (at least at first). MyHeritage has given every account some free Gaia time to try it out. Paid Omni-level accounts get additional Gaia usage as part of their ongoing subscription.

How do I use Gaia?

Gaia is located by clicking on the Research tab from the MyHeritage menu bar, then selecting Search All Records from the dropdown.

This section used to be a single page. However, if you look at it now, you’ll see that it has two tabs: the standard search page that we are all used to using, and the Research Agent page where Gaia lives.

Before you use Gaia for the first time, a pop-up will appear, asking you to agree to the terms and conditions of the program. It’s a surprisingly short and easy read, covering what Gaia can and might not be able to do, and importantly, the fact that any data you provide will not be used to train AI programs.

Once you opt in, Gaia is easy to use. You’re given a few preloaded questions, and the usual AI text box for prompts.

I wanted to see how Gaia would handle my primary brick wall: my great-grandmother Anna Lisbona Russo. Born an orphan in southern Italy, the first confirmed documentation I have for her is a birth certificate for her first son, Andrea Russo, in Brooklyn in 1889. I selected the first button, to research a specific person, and added the following in the text box:

“Anna Lisbona was an orphan born in Southern Italy around 1870.  She had moved to Brooklyn, NY by 1889 and had her first son, Andrea Russo in 1889.  She married Gaetano Russo at some point before Andrea Russo was born.“

After I hit Enter, Gaia responded first with confirmation that documents existed to confirm Andrea’s birth and parental heritage, which I already knew. It then recommended several research paths that I might pursue to find more information. I found this to be more useful, as it would help me guide my further research.

A survey of early users of Gaia note much the same. While Gaia will search MyHeritage and other online sources for data, it is better at helping you to develop a research plan for working through those thorny problems. While you could develop genealogical research plans on any AI platform, Gaia has the benefit of already having your family tree and records pre-loaded. This saves time and ensures accuracy, since you don’t have to start from scratch adding records to another program.

One caution: Gaia’s usage costs may add up quickly. I’m uncertain if MyHeritage will issue free credits each month or if this is a one-time way to give users a taste of Gaia. My research of Anna Lisbona consisted of three sets of instructions sent by me to the program, and used up 15% of my credits. This works out (in a rough estimate) to 5% of usage per instruction, or 20 instructions total. To get additional usage credits, you will have to upgrade to the Omni program.

To check how much usage you have left, you can click on the “Gaia Usage” button in the bottom left of your screen.

My early conclusions

The free version of Gaia is a great introduction to what AI can do for genealogists. The pre-loaded questions negate the need for expansive prompts, and since Gaia already has access to your MyHeritage tree and files, it’s easy to put together a research plan or work on a brick wall.

The paid version is a little more complicated. For extensive use of Gaia, you’ll need an Omni subscription, which is significantly more expensive than the basic one. Granted, Omni gives you a host of other features, but it’s up to you to determine if it’s worth the cost. For me, the upgrade to Omni isn’t worth it, as I have a paid subscription to another AI platform which I use daily. But only you can make that decision for yourself and your research. Give Gaia a try, and see what you think!