Questions and answers
Heirstory is a private family record with a genealogist of its own. Gene, an AI genealogist, finds your family in the records and listens to what your relatives remember. Every story is kept with its source, private to your family.
Questions
What is Heirstory?
A private record of your family: its tree, records, photographs and documents. What each relative remembers is kept in their own words, beside the people it is about. Every fact says how sure it is: proven, probable or remembered. Each family has its chapter, and each relative can tell their own life story.
Who is Gene?
Gene is Heirstory’s genealogist, and an AI: Claude, made by Anthropic. Gene searches the public records for your family’s people who have died, talks with each relative aloud or by typing, and writes each family’s chapter. As an AI, Gene can be wrong, so every answer says where it comes from, and you can check the sources.
What does it cost?
Your tree, the chapters, records, heritage, corrections and invitations are free, for as long as you use Heirstory. Only Gene’s work uses credits, and you see what larger work will cost before it starts. Everyone starts with 100 free credits, and earns more by confirming who they are, proving relatives real with documents, and inviting relatives who join. More start at £5, in your own currency, and credits you buy never expire.
Who can see my family?
Only your family. Nothing of your family is public. Your near family see you in full: parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren and everyone out to your second cousins. Others see your name and how you are connected, until you choose to share more. Children under 16 are decided for by both parents.
Does Heirstory use my family’s record to train AI?
No. When you ask Gene for something, the part of your family’s record that you may see is sent to Anthropic, which makes the AI. Under its commercial terms, Anthropic may not train its models on any of it. The privacy policy says exactly what is sent, and when.
Does Heirstory do DNA tests?
No. Heirstory works from records, documents and what your family remembers. A DNA company is the place for a test and for finding matches.
Can I bring a tree from Ancestry or MyHeritage?
Yes. Bring a family-tree file (GEDCOM) from Ancestry, MyHeritage or anywhere else. One file brings in up to 300 people, closest to you first. Its links come in as probable, drawn dotted, until a document or the family confirms them.
Can I take my record with me?
Yes, whenever you like. Download everything for a full copy of all you may see, with the photographs and documents. Or download a family-tree file for another site: it holds the people you see in full who died more than five years ago.
What happens to our record if Heirstory closes?
It never depends on Heirstory alone, because anyone can download a full copy at any time. If Heirstory ever stops running, members will be told at least 60 days before, and can ask for a copy of what they have added.
Does Heirstory print a book?
No. The family’s record is read online, and can be downloaded whole.
Do my relatives have to type?
No. From 16, they can talk aloud with Gene in a web browser, as they would to someone beside them. They can stop and carry on another day. Gene does not make phone calls.
Which languages does Heirstory speak?
English, French and German, each reader in their own.
Is Heirstory finished?
Not yet. Heirstory is in beta: it works, and it is being built and improved every week.
Who makes Heirstory?
Itch Studio Ltd, in the United Kingdom.