OikogenTalk, check, keep: how your stories become a family tree
Oikogen is an AI family tree maker that runs in your browser. You tell it about your family, check what it understood, and keep what's right. Here's what happens at each step.
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Load the model once
The first time you open the app, your browser downloads Oikogen's AI model: about 1 GB on a computer, about 300 MB on a phone or tablet. Later visits start from your browser's storage. When a new version of the model is ready, the app asks before downloading it.
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Tell it about your family
Type, or tap the microphone and speak. Say things the way you'd say them to a cousin: “Mum's brother Frank emigrated to Canada,” “my great-grandfather was a blacksmith.” You don't need dates or full names to begin.
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Check the card
Each message turns into a card that lists the new people and facts Oikogen found. If it isn't sure whether “Tom” is a Tom it already knows, it asks you. Nothing Oikogen takes from a message goes into your family until you press Save, and Discard throws it all away.
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Watch the tree grow
The family tree updates as you save. Open anyone to see what's known about them and why: the exact words it came from and how Oikogen decided who they are. You can edit anything.
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Ask questions
“When did Rose and Tom marry?” “Who were Frank's children?” Oikogen works out its answers only from what you've saved, never from the internet, so they come from your family's own stories.
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Keep it and share it
Export a file to keep a copy or to send to relatives, and choose whether to include the chat. When someone imports it, they review who's who before anything merges, and a restore point is kept in case they want to go back. You can also download a GEDCOM file for other genealogy software.
Where the AI runs
Most AI apps send what you type to a company's servers. Oikogen doesn't. Its language model was trained specially to read family stories, and it runs inside your browser on your own computer or phone, using its graphics chip (WebGPU).
The model's job is to spot people, relationships and facts in what you say. Deciding who is who stays with the app and with you: new people are only added when you confirm them.
Honest limits
- It can misread things. That's why every message is checked before it's saved. The smaller phone model makes more mistakes than the computer one.
- Your tree is stored in this browser on this device. Clearing your browser's data for the app deletes it, so export a copy now and then.
- There's no live syncing between family members yet. You share by sending an exported file.