Ancestry used AI to uncover a mind-blowing family connection. Now the company is trying to do it again

Kyle Miller, VP of product at Ancestry, a genealogy company with multiple sub-brands, reveals that a recent AI-powered discovery in his family history has left him astonished. Having spent over a decade working at the company, Miller and his wife were married in Provo, Utah, in a building that burned down in his youth. Unbeknownst to him, Ancestry's AI tools had uncovered a fascinating connection, linking the original building to his great-grandfather.

Miller emphasized that Ancestry has leveraged AI for more than a decade, focusing on integrating it into specific parts of their platform to bring stories to life.

Founded over a decade ago, Ancestry has consistently infused AI into its operations, balancing human expertise with advanced technology. The company's approach, akin to finding the "Indiana Jones of archives," involves collaborating with historians and archivists to digitize historical records, making them searchable and more accessible.

Lisa Pearl, head of U.S. and Canada content at Ancestry, highlights the dual purpose of preserving records for future generations and making them available to the broader public. Over the past few years, Ancestry's efforts have resulted in a significant expansion, adding 800 million new records annually in 2021 and 18.6 billion records per year by 2023.

Ancestry’s platform now boasts over 70 billion records, with AI tools capable of deciphering old handwriting, uncovering connections across disparate records, and generating personalized insights for users. This has proven not only cost-effective but also highly efficient, enabling the company to link records and build recommendations that boost user engagement.

Looking forward, AI is poised to enhance the discovery of new data and insights from the digitized archives, ultimately providing users with a richer understanding of their ancestors and their stories.