Calibrated confidence
Every link carries a probability computed from the evidence — not a binary “verified.” How well those numbers track reality is measured and gated continuously.
The portal to your past.
Research your lineage like never before.
PastSee is a lineage reasoning engine, not another records database. It works out how the fragments of the past connect — and shows its evidence for every link, with honest, calibrated confidence.
Validated on open real data · Every claim traces to its source · Says no when evidence runs out
Calibrated confidence, never false certaintyProvenance to the original sourceNo phantom ancestors
The difference
Most tools guess. A reasoning engine doesn't.
Traditional genealogy products are databases that fill gaps, hide conflicts, and label a hopeful guess “verified.” PastSee treats lineage as inference — and is honest about uncertainty.
A records database
- ✕Fills gaps with plausible-looking guesses
- ✕Shows “verified” when it means “maybe”
- ✕Silently overwrites conflicting records
- ✕Checks DNA against the paper after the fact
- ✕You can't see why it believes anything
PastSee — a reasoning engine
- ✓Says no when the evidence runs out
- ✓Every link carries a calibrated probability
- ✓Conflicts become explicit, visible nodes
- ✓Paper, DNA & testimony weighed as one belief
- ✓Open any claim and follow it to the source
What it stands for
Five commitments, enforced in code.
These aren't marketing promises. Each is a rule the system checks on every change — break one and the build goes red.
Unbroken provenance
Open any claim and follow its reasoning back to the source — the field, the record, the pixels on the page. A claim that can't show its work can't exist.
Refuses to guess
When the evidence runs out, PastSee says no. No phantom ancestors, no plausible-sounding fiction presented as fact.
Joint inference
Documents, DNA and testimony are weighed together into a single belief — never “assume from paper, then check with DNA.”
Conflicts surfaced
When records contradict, you see the conflict as an explicit, unresolved node — never a silent overwrite.
Privacy by design
Consent before any living person is shown, sensitive findings flagged rather than auto-disclosed, and a transparent law-enforcement policy.
Live now
Open the app and put these to work today.
Not a waitlist, not a demo — the app is live. Build your tree and use the reasoning tools that no records database ships.
AI research copilot
Ask it to investigate a person — it searches real archives, weighs the evidence, flags conflicts and writes a cited briefing. Grounded: it never invents a name, date or ancestor.
Proof on every match
Open any record match to see its working — the evidence, each factor's weight, and the calibrated probability. Capped at 99%; we never show certainty.
Tree health
Every parent-child link graded on its own evidence, the fragile ones surfaced, and contradictions turned into conflicts you can resolve — with an AI second opinion.
Read a record
Photograph or paste a census page, certificate or headstone — PastSee transcribes only what's legible into structured, citable facts. It never guesses the unreadable.
DNA, weighed honestly
Check shared centimorgans against the relationship your records claim — consistent, or a clue something's off. Calibrated bands, never a false match.
Every reachable source
Search WikiTree, Wikidata, historic newspapers, libraries and digitised books at once — and import your own GEDCOM. The honest brain over every source you can reach.
How it works
From a page of handwriting to a reasoned belief.
One joint inference over everything you give it — read, resolved, reasoned, and shown.
Read the records
Vision models transcribe historical handwriting and print into structured fields — each one tied back to the exact place on the page it came from.
Resolve the people
Candidate identities are matched across records — by name, place, time and relationship — and every proposed link is challenged by an adversarial critic before it's kept.
Reason jointly
All the evidence — documentary, genetic, oral — is fused into one posterior over who is who and who descends from whom, with conflicts kept explicit.
Show the proof
You see calibrated confidence on every claim, an expandable proof down to the source, and an honest “evidence exhausted” where the trail ends.
A family tree is a query, not an artifact.
Live — and honest about the rest
The app is live. We're still plain about what's next.
Everything below runs in production today. What remains is data partnerships and professional review — and, unlike most launches, we tell you so.
The app is live
Build your tree, search connected records, and use the AI research copilot, proof panels, tree-health audit, record reader and DNA tools — in production at pastsee.com today.
Calibrated reasoning engine
Joint Bayesian inference, identity resolution, adversarial critique and calibrated confidence — deployed and validated on open real data (1000 Genomes DNA, IAM handwriting, US Census naming). See the numbers on our accuracy page.
Deeper record access
We reach every free and open source today. The billions of licensed census, parish and vital records the incumbents hold need archival partnerships — a deal to strike, not code to write.
Independent genealogist review
A board-certified (BCG) review of our proof arguments — the bar we hold ourselves to before ever comparing accuracy to an existing product.
Start exploring your lineage.
Open the app to build your tree, search connected records, and see the evidence behind every link.