Why Continuity Matters When Using AI for Genealogy

If you’ve been experimenting with AI without signing in, it’s easy to miss how much more useful these tools become once you create a free account. This isn’t about selling anything. It’s simply about understanding how the tools work and using them in a way that actually helps your research.

When you use ChatGPT anonymously, every session resets as soon as you close the page. It has no awareness of prior questions, ancestors, or ongoing problems. That might be fine for one-off questions, but genealogy relies on context and continuity.

With a free ChatGPT account, your conversations are saved so you can return later and continue your work. Depending on your account settings, ChatGPT may also retain limited contextual information over time, such as the general topics you work on or the kinds of questions you ask. This does not replace your own notes or research logs, but it can make ongoing work smoother by reducing how often you need to re-establish basic context.

In my own work, this continuity has been surprisingly helpful. ChatGPT retains enough context to understand that I am a genealogist working on the Copeland line and its Solomon outlaw aliases, that my research focuses heavily on Illinois, Colorado, and Kansas, and that I wrote a book about Milt and Ed. When I come back the next day and say, “Help me rethink Milt’s movements in 1908,” I do not need to re-explain who Milt is or which identities he used. That shared context allows the analysis to continue without starting over.

This continuity saves time, but more importantly, it keeps the bigger story intact so I can build deeper insights with each session.

With and Without a Free Account on ChatGPT or Other AI Platforms

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What About Other AI Tools?

Other AI tools also offer both anonymous and account-based access, and genealogists are free to choose what works best for them. The specific platform matters less than the workflow. Creating an account allows your work to build over time, rather than resetting with each session. For genealogy, where research questions evolve and context accumulates, that continuity is far more important than the individual tool you use.

But the point isn’t that one tool is “best.” The point is that creating an account anywhere gives you continuity. And for genealogists, continuity is everything.

Using ChatGPT without an account is like meeting a new assistant every day. Using it with an account is like working with someone who remembers your families and your goals.

If you would like expert help untangling part of your family story, I offer personalized research services.