EP34: 2025 Mid-Year AI Review, FamilySearch Full-Text Goes Live, Nano Banana Photo Restoration Tips, AI's Environmental Impact

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.Timestamps:In the News:03:44 2025 Mid-Year Review: AI's Explosive Growth in Genealogy29:08 FamilySearch Full Text Search Is Now Live37:57 AI Success Stories in the Wild: Real Genealogists, Real ResultsTip of the Week:47:53 Best Uses for Nano Banana (Gemini Nano): Small Model, Big ImpactRapidFire:59:54 AI's Environmental Debate: Energy Costs vs. Benefits1:03:50 Google AI in Mobile Apps: What It Means for Genealogists1:11:07 Google Antitrust Ruling Issued: Impact on AI DevelopmentResource Links:Intro to Family History AI by the Family History AI Show Academyhttps://tixoom.app/fhaishowFull-Text Search (must be logged in to use this link)https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/full-text/Full-Text Search Leaves FamilySearch Labshttps://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/full-text-search-leaves-familysearch-labsHow do I use FullText Search?https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-use-fulltext-searchResponsible AI Photo Restorationhttps://makingfamilyhistory.com/responsible-ai-photo-restoration/WaPo AI Energy Usage, Sept 2024https://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 mathhttps://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 Chromehttps://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 Tags: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