21 Comments

I would never have thought to try this! What a great resource for biographers too— thanks for sharing.

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I hope you have good luck and let us know what you think!

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I haven't had great luck with AI for handwritten stuff, but you've inspired me to try again. Thanks, and how awesome that you have those letters!

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Thanks for that hint. I never thought of using AI to decipher the words I couldn’t make out in the letters I’m transcribing. Now, I’ll get back to that project.

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Wow! What a goldmine you have! So interesting. Love the idea of using AI to translate. Great post!

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Thanks!

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I assumed you used ChatGPT for this and good to know Gemini can do it too. Even if it’s wrong 10% of the time, that’s still less squinting and typing on my part.

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Right! Save the eyeballs! I used Gemini for this effort.

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Super cool idea and you're so lucky to have these original letters!

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What a wonderful idea. I have lots of letters and postcards that I will try as well. Interesting insights into her life and the times.

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I agree, the tiny details about sounds or other ordinary daily things are fascinating.

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Cool!

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what are the actual steps you used to ask Google gemini to transcribe a document? How did you upload them? I got the following message: "Unfortunately, Gemini currently cannot transcribe text directly from uploaded documents."

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I took a photo of each page and uploaded them one at a time, asking for a transcription. So, it was transcribing from a photo, not a document. Maybe that’s the key?

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Trying this method! Seems to be thinking!!!

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No luck. Will try something else

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Bummer! It was Gemini, but I also often use ChatGPT… try that! I only use free versions. perplexity is a good one too!

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wow this is amazing!

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I was truly amazed myself! Very exciting!

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This is fascinating! I have my concerns about AI, of course, but I think this is an amazing application for it. I've just finished transcribing an old letter but now I think I'll try this method and compare. Thank you!

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Ooh, great idea! I hope the use of AI offers something for you!

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