What can you discover about WikiTree using the Perplexity AI Chrome extension?

+10 votes
782 views
The following example is DNA specific but I'm curious to learn if you find other areas in which Perplexity AI can be helpful when using WikiTree.

I registered at Perplexity.AI and installed the Perplexity Chrome extension on my Chrome browser.  Then using my Chrome browser, I went to WikiTree.com and then clicked on the Perplexity chrome extension.  I selected "This Domain" and asked "How do I add my autosomal DNA results to my profile?"  The following comment is the result I received (I exceeded G2G's character limit):
in The Tree House by Peter Roberts G2G6 Pilot (762k points)
retagged by Ellen Smith

To add your autosomal DNA results to your WikiTree profile, you can follow these steps:

  1. Go to the WikiTree profile for the person who took the DNA test.
  2. Click on the DNA Tests page for that person.
  3. Select the test that was taken and enter the ID.
  4. Answer any additional questions that may be asked.
  5. Click on the "Add Test" button to save the DNA information to the profile.
  6. WikiTree will store your GEDmatch ID's and DNA info on that profile, and then over the next day or so will add it to all other profiles that it may apply to

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If you want your yDNA and mtDNA haplogroups propagated to their male and female ancestors, you will also need to select the Other yDNA and Other mtDNA test types, and fill in the haplogroups in each of them

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.It's important to note that you only need to enter DNA test information for the person who took the test, and not for anyone else

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. If you want to add DNA test information for a deceased relative, you can go to their profile, click on "Edit," and then click on "Add" at the top right. From there, you should see "DNA Test Information"

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.If you have any trouble adding your DNA test information to your WikiTree profile, you can reach out to the WikiTree community for help on their G2G forum

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5 Answers

+15 votes
AI is certainly evolving, and it is exciting, but I have quite a few reservations about its usage on WikiTree; especially in the example presented.

1. G2G and Space pages are not official. They are not routinely monitored and updated to correspond with changes to the site. This means the data being presented to members may be very out of date (such as Source #6).

2. The steps that were presented were missing vital information. You cannot load a profile and go directly to a DNA Test page. You need to use menu navigation (not described). You also need to be the Profile Manager (not described).

3. Pages with a lot of information are digested and summarized based on unknown criteria and leave out vital information. For example, step #6 says it will store the GEDmatch ID, but there is no mention of adding GEDmatch information in any previous steps.

This example actually confirms for me that general purpose AI's should not be used or promoted on WikiTree.
by Steven Harris G2G6 Pilot (813k points)
+12 votes

Hmmm. I think it gave some pretty bad instructions:

To add your autosomal DNA results to your WikiTree profile, you can follow these steps:

  1. Go to the WikiTree profile for the person who took the DNA test.
  2. Click on the DNA Tests page for that person. [You actually click on the dropdown menu with the person's WT ID and then select DNA from that menu and then click on DNA Tests at the top of the DNA page]
  3. Select the test that was taken and enter the ID. [Not sure what ID this is referring to. Probably Gedmatch ID, but adding a Gedmatch ID is optional. You don't have to have one or enter one]
  4. Answer any additional questions that may be asked. [sooo helpful, lol]
  5. Click on the "Add Test" button to save the DNA information to the profile.
  6. WikiTree will store your GEDmatch ID's and DNA info on that profile, and then over the next day or so will add it to all other profiles that it may apply to

    1

    .

If you want your yDNA and mtDNA haplogroups propagated to their male and female ancestors, you will also need to select the Other yDNA and Other mtDNA test types, and fill in the haplogroups in each of them [This is incorrect. You just have to select one of the listed yDNA tests or mtDNA tests or, if the one you took is not listed, select Other yDNA or Other mtDNA. The results get propagated whether you select a listed test or an Other test]

by Chase Ashley G2G6 Pilot (335k points)
+8 votes

Hi Peter,

I agree with Steven and his reply.

You stated: "I'm curious to learn if you find other areas in which Perplexity AI can be helpful when using WikiTree." (emphasis mine)

I think that, first, you need provide a case where it is helpful. Instead, you provided a counter-example of where Perplexity AI was not helpful.

At this point, all you have proven is that Perplexity AI is unreliable. Because it might be helpful, or we now know that it might not be helpful.

Sometimes there's nothing that quite beats either reading the official documentation yourself and asking questions: the usual way of learning.

by Eric Weddington G2G6 Pilot (557k points)

Hello Eric,

You have made a good point and I regret saying “I’m curious to learn if you find other areas…”  (I wish I had not said other).  I knew Perplexity’s reply had some mistakes.  Others have pointed out some mistakes I overlooked in my excitement to easily use an AI that worked on a specific domain like WikiTree.  I did not anticipate the focus would be on the mistakes (but instead - better examples ;-)

AI will improve and I’m optimistic that someone will post examples where Perplexity AI can be helpful when using WikiTree.

Hi Peter,

I have a software engineering background, and I'm familiar with how Neural Network (NN) algorithms work (the basis for AI, or Machine Learning [ML]).

I agree that the field of AI / ML opens up new things that we have never had before. Some of these solutions or applications seem pretty amazing. Like any new computer / software technology, there are people who think it will do a lot of things that we will find out that it can't do. And there are people who are afraid of it for things that they shouldn't be afraid of.

In the end, AI is just another type of software application. Previously, as engineers, if we needed to solve a problem, we would have to work out how to solve the problem, or the algorithm, a priori. Meaning that we have to know how to solve the problem beforehand, and we just write the software algorithm that contains the solution. We know the inputs, we know the algorithm (or function), and it produces the output.

What NNs do is to allow us to not have to know how to solve a problem a priori. Let's say we don't know what the algorithm is for a solution. We know the inputs, and we know the outputs that we want. Neural Network algorithms can take that and, over time, adjust itself to create the necessary algorithm to connect the inputs to the outputs. It's just a very fancy pattern detector and matcher.

But the trick is all in the training of the Neural Network. That is the process of providing both positive matches (input = output) and negative matches (input does not equal output). We have a saying with all software: Garbage In, Garbage Out (GIGO). Any NN is only as good as the training that it has had.

This also means that any AI / ML / NN algorithm will just spit out what matches to its input. It can't independently determine, or verify, the truth of anything. If the input is garbage, the output will be garbage. And in these cases, the output will be based on the training data that it was given, plus whatever documents or files that it was given to analyze. This is why AI systems (hardware + software) are said to "hallucinate": they produce output that is not the truth because it is just matching a pattern. I don't like that as an industry term because it tends to anthropomorphize an inanimate object. AI systems cannot "develop consciousness" and they do not "think". But to many people, it looks like they emulate that. It's sad, but some people are easily fooled. Underneath the hood, it's just nothing more than some fancy math.

In the end, AI is just a tool, nothing more. It's usefulness is shown by the person who wields it, and who knows its strengths, limitations, and weaknesses.

+4 votes
Did I miss the part where Perplexity AI comes in?  Where is that?  That part sounds intriguing especially in 2025!
by John C. Fox G2G6 Mach 1 (15.9k points)

The 2nd sentence of the original post...

"I registered at Perplexity.AI and installed the Perplexity Chrome extension on my Chrome browser.  Then using my Chrome browser, I went to WikiTree.com and then clicked on the Perplexity chrome extension. [...]"

+2 votes
AI is still easily confused. One of my sources insisted, per its AI, that Bill Clinton died in 1992 because he was in the newspaper and the article was: "Bill Clinton" And, the AI would not let me change Obituary to Story or anything else. This just happened today on Ancestry and Newspapers. So... I'm betting "be specific in what you ask for, doublecheck and triple check all data, etc. For now, it's a fun way to get thing written and to explore and to draw dragons (oddly specific on my end), but still in the toddler stage.
by Debra Akin G2G6 Mach 5 (54.5k points)

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