What are we doing here?

What is opentree ai?

opentree ai is a private workspace where you can create a family tree from scratch or import an existing GEDCOM. It turns your research into a visual family archive that is easier to explore, map, print, share, and take with you.

The emphasis is not on accumulating the largest possible tree. It is on understanding and presenting your family history—without giving up control of it.

Who owns my family data and media?

You do. Your tree is not valuable to us because we can trap it inside the app. It is valuable because we can help you do more with it.

You can download a complete portable archive at any time. It includes a GEDCOM containing your family record, the media files stored in opentree ai, and a manifest that inventories the archive. You should not have to recover photographs one at a time or remain a paying customer just to keep practical access to your own family collection.

What do I need to get started?

You can begin with a person and build your tree directly in opentree ai, or import an existing GEDCOM. Most established genealogy services and desktop family-tree applications can export one.

A GEDCOM contains the structure of your tree: people, relationships, dates, places, notes, and source references. Photographs and document files are often separate from the GEDCOM itself, so they may need to be added separately.

What does the “ai” in the name do?

• Upscale an older or smaller photograph so it holds up better in a physical print.
• Generate a period-aware illustration for a person based on their recorded dates, places, residences, and occupation. Generated images are clearly labeled as AI interpretations—not historical photographs.

Does it build my family tree or find new ancestors for me?

You can create and edit your own private family tree in opentree ai. It does not currently provide DNA testing, automatic record hints, ancestor matching, or a built-in global family tree; its research tools help you investigate people without trying to replace the large genealogy databases.

Is this meant to replace Ancestry or another genealogy service?

Not in the areas where those services have a genuine advantage, such as DNA matches and very large collections of people and records.

opentree ai fills a different gap. Whether you build here or import an existing tree, it gives you a focused place to move through it, see the geography of a family, create considered print designs, share it privately, and keep a portable copy of the work. You can also use it alongside the service where your research began without leaving your family history trapped there.

Can I bring over a tree from Ancestry?

Yes, by exporting the tree as a GEDCOM and importing that file into opentree ai. The GEDCOM brings over genealogical data, but it does not necessarily contain the original image and document files held by another service.

What can I explore in the app?

You can move through ancestors and siblings, search for people, view photographs and recorded facts in context, and explore interactive lineage maps built from the places and dates in your tree.

The goal is for a large tree to remain responsive and legible instead of becoming a slow web of tiny boxes.

What can I print?

The print studio creates individual family-tree designs, including classic trees, pedigree layouts, fan charts, and ancestry maps.

You can order a poster or framed print directly, or download the full-size PDF and use the printer you prefer.

Does opentree ai sell access to historical records?

No. The research tools are meant to make useful sources easier to find, with an emphasis on official archives, libraries, nonprofits, and genuinely free public collections.

Some records may still have access restrictions or reproduction fees at their source. When a commercial service is useful, it should be an optional route—not the default answer to every search.

What does “open” mean here?

It means your family history should remain usable outside a single service. You own the data and media you bring here. Your work can be exported as a GEDCOM archive with the assets stored in opentree ai, and your printable PDFs are ordinary files you can keep and print elsewhere.

It also describes the research posture: start with public and freely available sources instead of building another chain of subscriptions around family records.

Is my family tree private?

Yes. A tree lives in a private workspace. Access is limited to you and the people you deliberately invite to it; it is not published as a public family tree.