Vanessa WoodFool me once… fool me twice… fool me over and over again. That may be the new saying that could describe AI and genealogy. It may be fun to use AI to generate images, maybe even generate images of imaginary kin, but how do we avoid fooling unsuspecting website visitors? An upfront disclosure, the images in this post are AI generated and not representing actual people or scenes.
If you use AI generated images, and it’s the same recommendation I’m giving as a WordPress designer–you must tell people the image is AI generated.
They're a Hodgepodge
AI takes images and parts of images to craft together an image to the user’s specifications. When you do an image source on Google it is finding an actual, whole image. How long will it be before it starts finding AI created images? Google is attempting to identify if an image has been created with AI. Time will tell if this is successful.
Adding the Source
Genealogy Standards says quite a lot about AI without mentioning AI. The purpose of adding a source citation to an image… any image… is to enable people to “assess the credibility,” “locate the source,” and understand the scope of “research.”1…
In A World Without Citations
Now lets imagine a time in the near future. Let’s say it’s three years from now. You see a website with a photo of a dapper man in hat. It accompanies an article about your Great Aunt Jane. There’s no information of when or how this photo was created. How do you know if was created when John was alive? How do you know it is actually Jane? AI can create pretty convincing images and they will only get to be more convincing as technology progresses.
It’s easy to imagine how frustrating the web will be as genealogist try to figure out when images were created, who created them, and how they were created. We do this every day but AI makes it even more important… and complicated.
Citations. Do Your Best.
Not everyone loves writing citations. Do the best you can. You won’t regret it.
- Telling people an image is AI will build credibility.
- You won’t have to dig back to figure out where and when you obtained the AI image
- If there are future Internet regulations about AI, then you’ll be prepared
FEATURED IMAGE: Vanessa Wood, Elementor, AI, “Woman Long Dress 1898 Teeth Smiling Sepia,” digital image, created on https://therecord.lady.com, 8 January 2024.
