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