EP22: The Google Empire Strikes Back: Deep Research Challenges Perplexity, NotebookLM's Big Updates, and Facebook Adds AI to Groups

Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore Google's powerful end-of-year releases that challenge other AI platforms. They examine Google's Deep Research tool and its ability to quickly create comprehensive research reports by combining information from multiple sources.

Next, they discuss Facebook's controversial introduction of AI assistants to Facebook groups and what this might mean for genealogy communities.

The hosts review Google's NotebookLM's significant updates, including enhanced audio capabilities and collaborative features that could transform how genealogists work together.

This week's Tip of the Week demonstrates how ChatGPT Projects can organize and enhance genealogical research, with Steve using his approach to a 2025 genealogy do-over as an example.

In RapidFire, they cover Google's new fact benchmark, Gemini 2.0's release, AI-enhanced search results, and OpenAI's O3 announcement.

Timestamps:

In the News:

06:44 Google Deep Research: The New Challenger to Perplexity

18:03 Facebook Groups Get AI Assistants

24:57 NotebookLM: Major Updates for Collaborative Projects

Tip of the Week:

32:15 ChatGPT Projects: Organizing Your Genealogy Do-Over

RapidFire:

41:52 Google's New Fact Benchmark

44:00 Gemini 2.0 Release

48:34 Google AI-Enhanced Search Results

54:48 OpenAI's O3 Model Announcement

Resource Links:

AI Seminar at the Victoria Genealogical Society

https://victoriags.org/content.aspx?page_id=4091&club_id=554933&item_id=2488526

Legacy Family Tree Webinars: "Genealogy Meets AI: Panel Discussion"

https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/genealogy-meets-ai-panel-discussion/

Introducing Gemini 2.0: our new AI model for the agentic era

https://blog.google/technology/google-deepmind/google-gemini-ai-update-december-2024/

Certified Arborist Facebook Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/12652295162

Exploring Facebook's New AI Tool for Groups

https://aigenealogyinsights.com/2024/10/22/exploring-facebooks-new-ai-tool-for-groups/

NotebookLM gets a new look, audio interactivity and a premium version

https://blog.google/technology/google-labs/notebooklm-new-features-december-2024/

Using Projects in ChatGPT

https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10169521-using-projects-in-chatgpt

A new benchmark for evaluating the accuracy of large language models

https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/facts-grounding-a-new-benchmark-for-evaluating-the-

factuality-of-large-language-models/

AI Overviews in Search are coming to more places around the world

https://blog.google/products/search/ai-overviews-search-october-2024/

OpenAI announces new o3 models

https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/20/openai-announces-new-o3-model/

Tags

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Genealogy, Family History, Technology, OpenAI, Google, Perplexity, ChatGPT, Meta, Content Licensing, AI Conferences, AI Outage, Ethical AI, Disclosure, Genealogy Research, OpenAI Licensing, Google AI Issues, Perplexity Pages, ChatGPT Updates, Meta AI Developments, Grok.AI, AI in Genealogy, AI Tools, Technology in Genealogy, AI Transparency, AI and Privacy