July 14, 2025

EP27: AI Image Restoration Concerns, Perplexity's Future, Copyright Cases Are Shaping The Future of AI, Project Workspaces Help You Stay Organized

1 hour 13 minutes

Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little examine the controversial rise of AI image "restoration" and discuss how entirely new images are being generated, rather than the original photos being restored. This is raising concerns about the preservation of authentic family photos.

They discuss Mark's reconsideration of canceling his Perplexity subscription after rediscovering its unique strengths for supporting research.

The hosts analyze recent court rulings that permit AI training on legally acquired content, plus Disney's ongoing case against Midjourney.

This week's Tip of the Week explores how project workspaces in ChatGPT and Claude can greatly simplify your genealogical research.

In RapidFire, the hosts cover Meta's aggressive AI hiring spree, the proliferation of AI tools in everyday software, including a new genealogy transcription tool from Dan Maloney, and the importance of reading AI news critically.

Timestamps:

In the News:

06:50 The Pros and Cons of "Restoring" Family Photos with AI

23:58 Mark is Cancelling Perplexity... Maybe

32:33 AI Copyright Cases Are Starting to Work Their Way Through the Courts

Tip of the Week:

40:09 How Project Workspaces Help Genealogists Stay Organized

RapidFire:

48:51 Meta Goes on a Hiring Spree

56:09 AI Is Everywhere!

01:06:00 Reading AI News Responsibly

Resource Links

OpenAI: Introducing 4o Image Generation

https://openai.com/index/introducing-4o-image-generation/

Perplexity https://www.perplexity.ai/

How does Perplexity work?

https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/10352895-how-does-perplexity-work

Anthropic wins key US ruling on AI training in authors' copyright lawsuit https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/anthropic-wins-key-ruling-ai-authors-copyright-lawsuit-2025-06-24/

Meta wins AI copyright lawsuit as US judge rules against authors https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/26/meta-wins-ai-copyright-lawsuit-as-us-judge-rules-against-authors

Disney, Universal sue image creator Midjourney for copyright infringement https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/disney-universal-sue-image-creator-midjourney-copyright-infringement-2025-06-11/

Disney and Universal Sue A.I. Firm for Copyright Infringement https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/business/media/disney-universal-midjourney-ai.html

Projects in ChatGPT

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

Meta shares hit all-time high as Mark Zuckerberg goes on AI hiring blitz https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/30/meta-hits-all-time-mark-zuckerberg-ai-blitz.html

Here's What Mark Zuckerberg Is Offering Top AI Talent

https://www.wired.com/story/mark-zuckerberg-meta-offer-top-ai-talent-300-million/

Genealogy Assistant AI Handwritten Text Recognition Tool

https://www.genea.ca/htr-tool/

Borland Genetics

https://borlandgenetics.com/

Illusion of Thinking

https://machinelearning.apple.com/research/illusion-of-thinking

Simon Willison: Seven replies to the viral Apple reasoning paper -- and why they fall short

https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/15/viral-apple-reasoning-paper/

MIT: Your Brain on ChatGPT

https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/your-brain-on-chatgpt/overview/

MIT researchers say using ChatGPT can rot your brain. The truth is a little more complicated https://theconversation.com/mit-researchers-say-using-chatgpt-can-rot-your-brain-the-truth-is-a-little-more-complicated-259450

Guiding Principles for Responsible AI in Genealogy

https://craigen.org/