I participated in Robin McCarthy's Genealogy Tech Talk class for the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society on Sunday. One of her tips was to use the new Perplexity Comet to create a genealogical sketch, biography, or stories based on an Ancestry Member Tree ancestor profile.
Then I found that Carole McCulloch had shown a family narrative using Perplexity Comet in The AI Genealogy Revolution Episode 10: AI Genealogy Workflows on her YouTube channel.
So I tried it too, and here is the result.
1) First, what is Perplexity Comet?
A Google search tells me:
Perplexity Comet is an AI-powered web browser that serves as an intelligent personal assistant, designed to automate tasks and streamline information gathering by integrating Perplexity's AI engine directly into the browsing experience. Built on the open-source Chromium framework, it offers a familiar interface and supports existing Chrome extensions.
Key Features
Integrated AI Assistant: A built-in AI Assistant, accessible via a sidebar, is the core feature. It can interact with web pages, summarize content, answer questions, draft emails, manage calendars, and more without needing to switch tabs or applications.
Agentic Capabilities: Comet is an "agentic" browser, meaning its AI can execute multi-step tasks autonomously on the user's behalf, such as booking flights, filling out forms, or comparing products across multiple websites.
Contextual Awareness: The Assistant maintains context across tabs and past browsing history (with user permission), allowing for more personalized and relevant assistance.
Perplexity Search Engine: Perplexity's AI search engine replaces traditional search results with direct, cited answers, providing a more efficient way to get information.
Page Summarization: A one-click feature allows users to get a concise summary of any webpage or even a YouTube video, saving time and effort.
Workspaces: Comet introduces a workspace model for organizing research and projects, helping to manage tab clutter and maintain context during complex tasks.
Privacy Controls: It includes standard browser security features like a built-in ad and tracker blocker, a password manager, and options for users to control how the AI assistant uses their data, with an emphasis on local processing for sensitive information.
From the Comet home page, the user can download the Comet browser. I struggled to get it started because it wouldn't send a two-factor authorization to my phone for some reason, but I finally got it working.
2) Because Comet is a web browser with built-in AI features, a user can open a website from the Perplexity interface, and then ask the AI Assistant queries or prompts. I chose to open Ancestry.com (and I had to log in using my password and my two-factor authorization code for Ancestry too!). I went to my Ancestry Member Tree, and to a profile of my 5th great-grandmother, Sarah (Read) Seaver (1736-1809). Here is a screen shot of the Perplexity Comet browser with my Ancestry tree profile of Sarah Read on the Facts tab:
Up on the far right of the web browser line, there is a Chrome extension that says "Assistant" right next to the green "Update Comet" button. When you click on "Assistant" it opens the sidebar on the right side of the screen (seen below):
The right-hand sidebar is blank until you put something in the Prompt field at the bottom of the sdiebar.
3) In the AI prompt field at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar, I entered this prompt (shown above):
"Please create a biography with historical events for Sarah Read based on this information, with 500 words."
Since it "knew" I was on Sarah Read's profile, it quickly responded (immediately!) with:
4) Here is the 500 word biography created in seconds:
Sarah Read was born on December 28, 1736, in Sudbury, Middlesex County, within the Massachusetts Bay Province of British Colonial America. She was the daughter of Isaac Read and Experience Willis, both members of the early colonial families who played a part in shaping the burgeoning communities of Massachusetts in the pre-Revolutionary War era. Growing up near Boston in the mid-18th century, Sarah witnessed a time of rapid change, religious revival, and increasing tensions with Britain, all of which set the stage for the American Revolution.ancestry
As a young girl, Sarah enjoyed a large family with several siblings: Ruth, Samuel, Lois, Eunice, Asahel, Isaac, and Jacob. Life in colonial Sudbury was filled with hard work and tight-knit family bonds. The Read household would have followed the cycles of planting, harvest, and community worship, all within the context of a society still strongly tied to Puritan values and governed by town meetings.
On March 14, 1755, at the age of eighteen, Sarah married Norman Seaver, also of Sudbury. The Seaver family was well established and, together, Norman and Sarah began their own family during the final decades of British rule. They welcomed many children: Eunice, Benjamin, Sarah, Joseph, Isaac, Ethan, Daniel, Heman, Luther, Relief, Asahel Reed, Faitha, and Lucinda, each born between 1755 and 1780. The early years of their marriage were spent in Sudbury and then in Shrewsbury, reflecting the pattern of westward movement by Massachusetts families as the colonial population grew and new lands opened for settlement.ancestry
Sarah’s early adulthood coincided with the upheaval of the French and Indian War (1754–1763), which brought uncertainty and military activity to New England. Later, the Seaver family moved to Westminster, Worcester County, participating in the founding of a new community.
The Seavers’ lives were intimately affected by the American struggle for independence. During the Revolutionary War, Sarah suffered the loss of her brother Asahel at the Battle of Lexington in 1775, marking her family’s direct involvement in the fight for liberty. Her household also endured hardships as Norman, her husband, passed away in 1787, after which Sarah was named administratrix of his estate—a notable appointment for a woman, reflecting her capable reputation and status within the community.
After Norman’s death, Sarah faced new responsibilities, including guardianship of minor children and household management. Surviving as a widow in post-Revolutionary Massachusetts required resilience, especially against the backdrop of national economic instability and the legal limitations on women’s property rights. Nevertheless, Sarah continued to run her household and remained active in Westminster, appearing in local census records such as the 1790 federal enumeration and the 1798 Direct Tax List.
Sarah Read died before January 3, 1809, in Westminster. She did not live to see the full impact of the new American Republic, but her own life spanned years of dramatic historical transformation—from a colonial subject of the British crown to a citizen of the United States. As a wife, mother, and widow, Sarah Read’s story exemplifies the experiences of many colonial American women: family-centered, enduring, and quietly courageous in times of great change.ancestry
Based on facts from the Ancestry.com family tree profile for Sarah Read, including birth, marriage, children, and historical events in her region.ancestry
Note that, although the profile listed Sarah's parents, it did not list Sarah's siblings. Comet apparently accessed the sibling names and included them in the biography.
Note also that the sources are only to the Ancestry profile Fact page, not to the record sources for the different events. The Person Notes on the Ancestry Member Tree profile are not accessed by Comet, but historical events, person notes and other information may have been found on the Internet.
I could have asked it for many more words too and it would supply them - I usually try to limit my biography prompts to 2,000 words at most.
5) I asked Perplexity Comet another question in the prompt field: "What was Sarah's life like in 1774?" The response was:
Again, it used the information in the Fact list for Sarah plus information it found on the Internet.
6) I could ask it more questions like:
"Provide five significant story themes about Sarah's life."
"Provide a life memoir that Sarah might tell her grandchildren in 1805."
"Describe the work that Sarah performed to support her family and community."
"Describe Westminster, Masssachusetts in 1775."
"What types of historic records are missing in this profile?"
Perplexity Comet searches the Internet to find historical, demographic, social, and other information when the profile does not have that information.
7) What could this biography and stories provide to a genealogy researcher or family historian?
In five minutes, I had seven "stories" about this person and community and could ask for more. I could use them:
- To add to the Person Note on Ancestry or in my desktop family tree program.
- To write a blog post about the person.
- To write family stories or a book about the person or family.
- To add information to other online family trees (e.g., WikiTree, FamilySearch Family Tree, MyHeritage Family Tree, etc.).
It works with a person profile on MyHeritage Family Tree, FamilySearch Family Tree and WikiTree also. However, unless information on the siblings and children are included on the profile page, Perplexity Comet can only provide their names, birth years and death years.
8) The user can capture each response individually, or all in one pass, and paste it into a word processing document or a field in their family tree program.
9) Of course, Comet can do many more tasks for genealogy research and family history - we are just scratching the surface right now. Stay tuned!
10) I can see Ancestry.com recommending this method of extracting written information for a person profile, or creating something similar on its own nickel.
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