Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little present a special year-end episode, comparing their 2025 AI predictions to what actually unfolded in 2025. This episode is a great review of the top AI advancements in 2025!

The hosts examine which predictions hit the mark, including the agentic AI hype cycle, plummeting AI costs driven by DeepSeek, and the dethroning of OpenAI as the top AI model. They also explore predictions that proved partially accurate, such as the shift to local language models and the adoption of AI in social media.

Mark and Steve have a good laugh over their biggest misses, including breakthroughs in text-in-image generation, image restoration, and vibe coding. They highlight how reasoning models were the transformative force behind nearly every major AI advancement in 2025.

The episode closes with a preview of next week's 2026 predictions episode.

03:30 Agents, Agents, Everywhere: Deep Research and Agentic Browsers

09:49 Cost of AI Drops Like a Rock: DeepSeek Disrupts the Market

12:26 OpenAI Dethroned: Gemini and Anthropic Rise

18:46 Local Language Models

23:54 AI Invades Social Media

28:24 AI-Enhanced Writing: From Grammar Checking to Ghost Writers

32:30 Family Tree Diagrams: Possible But Not Practical

36:03 Handwriting Recognition: Reasoning Improves Results

38:01 Reasoning Models: 2025’s Most Important Advancement

41:31 Text in Images: A Solved Problem

45:05 Image Restoration: Breakthroughs and Responsibilities

51:02 Vibe Coding: Speaking Software Into Being

Register for a Class with the Family History AI Show Academy

https://tixoom.app/fhaishow

Agentic AI

Agentic AI In-Depth Report 2025

https://hblabgroup.com/agentic-ai-in-depth-report/

Perplexity's New AI-First Browser Kicks Off Agentic Applications

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenwolfepereira/2025/07/11/perplexitys-new-ai-first-browser-is-kicking-off-agentic-applications/

Cost of AI

State of AI in 10 Charts

https://hai.stanford.edu/news/ai-index-2025-state-of-ai-in-10-charts

Free AI Tools 2025

https://thehumanprompts.com/free-ai-tools-2025-platforms/

OpenAI Dethroned

Geoffrey Hinton says Google is 'beginning to overtake' OpenAI

https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-godfather-geoffrey-hinton-google-overtaking-openai-2025-12

Local AI Hardware

Assessing the On-Device Artificial Intelligence (AI) Opportunity

https://www.qualcomm.com/content/dam/qcomm-martech/dm-assets/documents/assessing-the-on-device-ai-opportunity.pdf

Family Tree Diagrams

Explore how powerful AI image editing can support advanced creative workflows.

https://deepmind.google/models/gemini-image/pro/

Text in Images

Nano Banana Pro Review: Is Google's AI Image Generator Too Good?

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/google-nano-banana-pro-ai-image-generator-review/

Vibe Coding

No code, big dreams

https://www.businessinsider.com/non-technical-people-vibecoding-lessons-ai-apps-2025-9

Image Restoration

Responsible AI Photo Restoration

https://makingfamilyhistory.com/responsible-ai-photo-restoration/

Protecting Trust in Historical Images

https://craigen.org/protecting-trust-in-historical-images/

Artificial Intelligence, Genealogy, Family History, AI Predictions, Reasoning Models, DeepSeek, Gemini, Image Restoration, Vibe Coding, Agentic AI

Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little examine Google's groundbreaking Gemini 3 release, which delivers state-of-the-art multimodal reasoning and sets a new benchmark for AI capabilities. They also explore ChatGPT's upgrade to version 5.1 with improved instruction following and better handling of longer conversation.

The hosts discuss Canva's new Creative Operating System, which now generates AI-powered designs directly within the platform.

This week's Tip of the Week demonstrates how Gemini 3 can use the context you provide it to greatly improve the accuracy of your hand written transcription.

In RapidFire, they cover NotebookLM's new deep research mode, Nano Banana's integration into Photoshop, Anthropic's privacy policy changes regarding training data, and how Claude's new usage monitoring feature can reduce your stress level.

In the News:

04:17 Google Gemini 3’s Multimodal AI Reaches New Heights

13:47 ChatGPT 5.1 upgrade is now better at following your Instructions

22:39 Canva Creative Operating System: AI-Powered Design Generation

Tip of the Week:

26:21 Adding Reasoning to Your Transcriptions Improves Accuracy

RapidFire:

36:40 NotebookLM Becomes a Fully Featured Research Tool

43:40 Nano Banana is Now Available in Photoshop

47:20 Anthropic Announces Claude Chats Will Be Used for Training Data

54:13 View Your Claude Usage in Settings

Intro to Family History AI by the Family History AI Show Academy

https://tixoom.app/fhaishow

Google Gemini 3

Introducing Gemini 3: A New Era of Intelligence

https://blog.google/products/gemini/gemini-3/

ChatGPT 5.1

A smarter, more conversational

https://openai.com/index/gpt-5-1/

GPT-5.1 New Features Explained

https://scalevise.com/resources/gpt-5-1-new-features/

Canva Creative Operating System

Introducing Canva's Creative Operating System

https://www.canva.com/newsroom/news/creative-operating-system/

NotebookLM Deep Research

NotebookLM adds Deep Research and support for more source types

https://blog.google/technology/google-labs/notebooklm-deep-research-file-types/

Nano Banana in Photoshop

Create with unlimited generations using Google Gemini 3 (Nano Banana Pro) in Adobe Firefly

https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2025/11/20/google-gemini-3-nano-banana-pro-firefly-photoshop

Anthropic Privacy Policy Update

Anthropic Will Use Claude Chats for Training Data: How to Opt Out

https://www.wired.com/story/anthropic-using-claude-chats-for-training-how-to-opt-out/

Updates to Consumer Terms and Privacy Policy

https://www.anthropic.com/news/updates-to-our-consumer-terms

Claude Usage Monitoring

Usage Limit Best Practices

https://support.claude.com/en/articles/9797557-usage-limit-best-practices

Artificial Intelligence, Genealogy, Family History, Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Canva, NotebookLM, Nano Banana, Anthropic Claude, Photo Restoration

Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little discuss how new AI browsers are changing how genealogists research. They compare OpenAI's Atlas, Microsoft Edge, Google's Gemini, and Perplexity's Comet, explaining which features help family historians most.

The hosts share lessons from the early AOL era that can be applied to the AI era. They also explore Anthropic's new Haiku 4.5, a very fast model that works great for simple tasks like transcription and summarization.

Don’t miss this week's Tip of the Week, where Steve shows how AI can help you write better AI prompts. He uses an example for extracting information from draft cards to show how useful this approach can be.

In RapidFire, they cover new AI features in spreadsheets, major improvements in transcribing old handwriting, and how Microsoft Copilot's new agent store tries to help you with common tasks.

In the News:

01:20 Browser Wars Heat Up: OpenAI Atlas, Edge, and Gemini Compete

16:50 What AI Can Learn from AOL: Avoiding Walled Garden Mistakes

29:10 Anthropic's Haiku 4.5: When Smaller Models Beat Bigger Ones

Tip of the Week:

39:50 Using AI to Write Better Prompts for Historical Documents

RapidFire:

47:19 AI Makes Spreadsheets Easier: Google Sheets vs Excel

54:35 Reading Old Handwriting Gets Better: DeepSeek and Google Updates

01:05:15 Microsoft Copilot Adds Writing and Prompt Coaches

Genealogy and AI Facebook to hit 20k users!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogyandai

An In-Depth Look at OpenAI's AI Browser

https://intuitionlabs.ai/articles/chatgpt-atlas-openai-browser

DeepSeek AI created DeepSeek-OCR

https://www.infoq.com/news/2025/10/deepseek-ocr/

Nearly perfect on handwriting recognition

https://generativehistory.substack.com/p/has-google-quietly-solved-two-of

Global AI Browser Market Size

https://market.us/report/ai-browser-market/

Benchmarking Claude Haiku 4.5 and Sonnet 4.5 on 400 Real PRs

https://www.qodo.ai/blog/thinking-vs-thinking-benchmarking-claude-haiku-4-5-and-sonnet-4-5-on-400-real-prs/

Anthropic’s Claude Haiku 4.5 Brings Enterprise-Grade Speed and Savings to Customer-Facing AI

https://www.cxtoday.com/contact-center/anthropics-claude-haiku-4-5-brings-enterprise-grade-speed-and-savings-to-customer-facing-ai/

Top 10 AI Spreadsheet Tools

https://www.knack.com/blog/top-ai-spreadsheet-tools/

Prompt Coach: Prebuilt agent for Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat

https://rishonapowerplatform.com/2025/03/11/prompt-coach-prebuilt-agent-for-microsoft-365-copilot-chat/

Artificial Intelligence, Genealogy, AI Browsers, OpenAI Atlas, Google Gemini, Microsoft Edge, Perplexity Comet, Anthropic Haiku, Meta-Prompting, Spreadsheet AI, OCR Technology, Handwritten Text, DeepSeek, Microsoft Copilot, AI Agents, Document Extraction, Family History, Browser Wars, AI Models

Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore how Google's Nano Banana photo restoration tool will revolutionize image restoration by integrating with Adobe Photoshop. This move will greatly reduce unintended changes to historical photos when editing them with AI.

Next, they unpack OpenAI’s move to make ChatGPT Projects available to free-tier users, making research organization more accessible for genealogists.

This week's Tip of the Week provides essential guidance on the responsible use AI when editing historical photos using AI tools like Nano Banana, ensuring transparency and trust in historical photographs.

In RapidFire, they cover OpenAI's new Sora 2 AI-video social media platform, Claude's new ability to create and edit Microsoft Office files, memory features in Claude Projects, advancements in local language models, and how OpenAI's massive infrastructure deals are changing the AI landscape.

In the News:

02:43 Adobe improves historical photo restoration by adding Nano Banana to Photoshop

09:34 ChatGPT Projects are Now Free

Tip of the Week:

13:36 Citations for AI-Restored Images Build Trust in AI-Modified Photos

RapidFire:

21:24 Sora 2 Goes Social

27:23 Claude Adds Microsoft Office Creation and Editing

34:26 Memory Features Come to Claude Projects

38:32 Apple and Amazon both create Local Language Model tools

44:47 OpenAI's Big Data Centre Deal with Oracle

OpenAI announces free access to ChatGPT Projects

https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-release-notes

Engadget: OpenAI Rolls Out ChatGPT Projects to Free Users

https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-rolls-out-chatgpt-projects-to-free-users-215027802.html

Forbes: OpenAI Makes ChatGPT Projects Free

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2025/09/14/small-business-technology-roundup-microsoft-copilot-does-not-improve-productivity-and-openai-makes-chatgpt-project-free/

Responsible AI Photo Restoration

https://makingfamilyhistory.com/responsible-ai-photo-restoration/

Claude now has memory, but only for certain users

https://mashable.com/article/anthropic-claude-ai-now-has-memory-for-some-users

New Apple Intelligence features are available today

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/09/new-apple-intelligence-features-are-available-today/

Introducing Amazon Lens Live

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/search-image-amazon-lens-live-shopping-rufus

Amazon Lens Live Can Scan and Pull Up Matches

https://www.pcmag.com/news/spot-an-item-you-wish-to-buy-amazon-lens-live-can-scan-and-pull-up-matches

A Joint Statement from OpenAI and Microsoft About Their Changing Partnership

https://openai.com/index/joint-statement-from-openai-and-microsoft/

The Verge: OpenAI and Oracle Pen $300 Billion Compute Deal

https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/776170/oracle-openai-300-billion-contract-project-stargate

Reuters: OpenAI and Oracle Sign $300 Billion Computing Deal

https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-oracle-sign-300-billion-computing-deal-wsj-reports-2025-09-10/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Artificial Intelligence, Genealogy, Family History, Photo Restoration, AI Tools, OpenAI, Google, Adobe Photoshop, ChatGPT Projects, Nano Banana, Image Editing, AI Citations, Sora 2, Video Generation, Claude, Microsoft Office, Apple Intelligence, Amazon Lens, Oracle, Cloud Computing, Local Language Models, AI Infrastructure, Responsible AI, Historical Photos

Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little review the biggest AI breakthroughs of 2025 so far, from DeepSeek's open-source revolution to GPT-5's unified reasoning model.

Mark and Steve also celebrate FamilySearch's Full-Text Search moving from experimental labs to the main website, covering 1.4 billion records across 4,300 collections plus new summarization and filtering features.

This week's Tip of the Week provides practical guidance on using Nano Banana for photo restoration, explaining when it works brilliantly and when to exercise caution with damaged images.

In RapidFire, they examine competing reports on AI's environmental impact, explore Google's new AI Mode in mobile apps, and discuss the landmark antitrust ruling that forces Google to share search data with competitors.

In the News:

03:44 2025 Mid-Year Review: AI's Explosive Growth in Genealogy

29:08 FamilySearch Full Text Search Is Now Live

37:57 AI Success Stories in the Wild: Real Genealogists, Real Results

Tip of the Week:

47:53 Best Uses for Nano Banana (Gemini Nano): Small Model, Big Impact

RapidFire:

59:54 AI's Environmental Debate: Energy Costs vs. Benefits

1:03:50 Google AI in Mobile Apps: What It Means for Genealogists

1:11:07 Google Antitrust Ruling Issued: Impact on AI Development

Intro to Family History AI by the Family History AI Show Academy

https://tixoom.app/fhaishow

Full-Text Search (must be logged in to use this link)

https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/full-text/

Full-Text Search Leaves FamilySearch Labs

https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/full-text-search-leaves-familysearch-labs

How do I use FullText Search?

https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-use-fulltext-search

Responsible AI Photo Restoration

https://makingfamilyhistory.com/responsible-ai-photo-restoration/

WaPo AI Energy Usage, Sept 2024

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/09/18/energy-ai-use-electricity-water-data-centers/

Google: How much energy does Google's AI use? We did the math

https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/measuring-the-environmental-impact-of-ai-inference/

Judge orders Google to share search data as part of antitrust ruling --- but Google gets to keep Chrome

https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/search-engines/judge-orders-google-to-share-search-data-as-part-of-antitrust-ruling-but-google-gets-to-keep-chrome?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Artificial Intelligence, Genealogy, Family History, DeepSeek R1, AI Reasoning, Open Source AI, Free AI Tools, ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, OpenAI Operator, AI Agents, Beginner AI Guide, Research Tools, Document Analysis, AI Democratization, Context Windows, Deep Research, AI Writing, Browser Automation, Genealogy Research, AI Accessibility, Reasoning Models, AI Education

Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little return from summer break to discuss the mixed reception of ChatGPT 5 and how OpenAI responded to user feedback.

They explore Google's game-changing Nano Banana (Gemini Flash Image) model that revolutionizes selective image editing, reigniting debates about AI photo restoration in genealogy.

This week's Tip of the Week emphasizes not letting perfect be the enemy of the good, especially when it comes to AI-powered citation. Mark shares his experience with 100 citations as part of the WikiTree Challenge.

In RapidFire, they cover Apple's possible Gemini partnership, new AI study modes for back-to-school season, Anthropic's copyright settlement, and controversial changes to its privacy policy. They close with escalating skirmishes in the escalating AI browser wars.

In the News:

05:14 ChatGPT 5 Launch Aftermath: Mixed Reception and Quick Fixes

17:15 Nano Banana: Google's Game-Changing Image Editing Model

Tip of the Week:

32:38 Don't Let Perfect Be the Enemy of Good: Building Citation Prompts

RapidFire:

43:27 Apple Explores Google Gemini Partnership for Siri

47:16 Back to School: AI Study Modes from ChatGPT and Gemini

53:00 Anthropic Settles Copyright Lawsuit with Authors

56:29 Anthropic Reverses Privacy Stance on Training Data

60:55 AI Browser Wars: Anthropic and Google Enter the Fray

Intro to Family History AI by the Family History AI Show Academy

https://tixoom.app/fhaishow

Mass Intelligence by Ethan Mollick

https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/mass-intelligence

Create and edit images with Gemini

https://deepmind.google/models/gemini/image/

Google take 'giant leap' with launch of 'Nano Banana'

https://www.uniladtech.com/news/ai/google-giant-leap-nano-banana-launch-image-editing-305898-20250828

Apple Explores Using Google Gemini AI to Power Revamped Siri

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-22/apple-explores-using-google-gemini-ai-to-power-revamped-siri

Guided Learning in Gemini: From answers to understanding

https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/guided-learning/

Introducing study mode

https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-study-mode/

Anthropic Settles Copyright Lawsuit

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/anthropics-surprise-settlement-adds-new-wrinkle-ai-copyright-war-2025-08-27/

Anthropic Updates Data Policy

https://www.anthropic.com/news/updates-to-our-consumer-terms

New Opt-Out Policy Reverses Stance on Using Consumer Data for AI Training

https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/28/anthropic-users-face-a-new-choice-opt-out-or-share-your-data-for-ai-training/

Anthropic launches a Claude AI agent that lives in Chrome

https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/26/anthropic-launches-a-claude-ai-agent-that-lives-in-chrome/

Google is launching a Gemini integration in Chrome

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/20/google-is-launching-a-gemini-integration-in-chrome/

Artificial Intelligence, Genealogy, Family History, Technology, ChatGPT, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, Image Editing, Nano Banana, AI Photography, Citation Management, WikiTree, AI Study Modes, Copyright Law, Privacy Policy, Browser Extensions, AI Training Data, Photo Restoration, Apple Siri, Educational AI, Model Selection, AI Ethics, Chrome Integration

Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore the groundbreaking release of ChatGPT-5, which arrived after over a year of anticipation. They discuss how this new model transforms the AI landscape with better reasoning, larger context windows, and dramatically reduced hallucinations.

The hosts examine OpenAI's new Study and Learn Mode, which acts as a personal tutor rather than just providing answers, making it ideal for genealogists who want to deepen their understanding of their favourite topic.

This week's Tip of the Week cautions beginners about challenging AI tasks like handwritten transcriptions and structured files, recommending they master the basics first.

In RapidFire, they cover OpenAI's first open-source release since 2019, NotebookLM's video capabilities, and impressive AI company earnings reports.

In the News:

00:55 ChatGPT-5 Has Arrived: Improved Features (mostly) for Genealogists

16:29 OpenAI's Study and Learn Mode: Your Personal Genealogy Tutor

23:40 Claude Releases Opus 4.1: Enhanced Reasoning and Writing

Tip of the Week:

29:25 AI Tasks for Beginners to Be Cautious Of

RapidFire:

40:16 OpenAI Releases First Open Source Model Since 2019

48:33 NotebookLM Upgrade Adds Video Support

53:34 AI Companies Report Record Earnings

Introduction to Family History AI

https://tixoom.app/fhaishow/

OpenAI GPT-5 Model Card

https://openai.com/index/gpt-5-system-card/

Introducing study mode

https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-study-mode/

ChatGPT Study Mode - FAQ

https://help.openai.com/en/articles/11780217-chatgpt-study-mode-faq

Claude Opus 4.1

https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-4-1

OpenAI announces two "gpt-oss" open AI models

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/08/openai-releases-its-first-open-source-models-since-2019/

Google's NotebookLM rolls out Video Overviews

https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/29/googles-notebooklm-rolls-out-video-overviews/

Tech bubble going pop: AI pays the price for inflated expectations

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/07/the-guardian-view-on-a-tech-bubble-going-pop-ai-pays-the-price-for-inflated-expectations

Is The AI Bubble About To Burst?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2024/08/07/is-the-ai-bubble-about-to-burst/

Google loses appeal in antitrust battle with Fortnite maker

https://masslawyersweekly.com/2025/08/06/google-play-monopoly-verdict-epic-games-win/

Department of Justice Prevails in Landmark Antitrust Case Against Google

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-prevails-landmark-antitrust-case-against-google

Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Genealogy, Family History, OpenAI, ChatGPT-5, Claude, Large Language Models, AI Learning Tools, Study Mode, Open Source AI, NotebookLM, Video Overviews, AI Reasoning, Context Windows, Hallucination Reduction, GEDCOM Files, Handwritten Transcription, Document Analysis, AI Earnings, Google Antitrust, Apache License, Local AI Processing, Privacy, AI Education, Tutoring Systems, Coding Capabilities, Multilingual Processing, AI Development, Family History Research, Genealogists, AI Tools, Machine Learning

Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little deliver a special same-day episode covering the long-awaited release of ChatGPT-5, which launched today, August 7, 2025.

They explore the most significant improvements in the upgrade for genealogists, including automated model selection that eliminates confusing settings for beginners, enhanced reasoning capabilities that reduce hallucinations by 45%, and big increase in the amount of information or documents that can be processed at once.

Mark demonstrates ChatGPT-5's improved image analysis with cabinet card photos, revealing how the model now provides research suggestions automatically.

This extra podcast also announces the launch of the Family History AI Show Academy, with Mark and Steve's first five-week course... "Introduction to Family History AI" beginning October 14th.

Introduction to Family History AI with Mark Thompson and Steve Little

https://tixoom.app/fhaishow/

Automated Model Selection

Enhanced Reasoning

Larger Context Window

Improved Vision Analysis

Better Document Grounding

Introduction to Family History AI

https://tixoom.app/fhaishow/

GPT-5 is here

https://openai.com/gpt-5/

Introducing GPT-5

https://openai.com/index/introducing-gpt-5/

OpenAI launches new GPT-5 model for all ChatGPT users

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/07/openai-launches-gpt-5-model-for-all-chatgpt-users.html

Artificial Intelligence, Genealogy, Family History, OpenAI, ChatGPT-5, AI Tools, Emergency Podcast, Model Selection, Reasoning Models, Context Window, Image Analysis, Cabinet Cards, Handwritten Text Recognition, Document Processing, Hallucination Reduction, AI Education, Family History AI Show Academy, Research Automation, Vision Analysis, Agentic AI, Professional Genealogy