What MyHeritage Launched at RootsTech 2026: Daniel Horowitz Breaks It All Down
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If you’ve been to a genealogy conference in the last decade or so, you’ve probably seen Daniel Horowitz. He’s the Chief Genealogist at MyHeritage, and he has the kind of energy that makes you wonder if he runs on something other than coffee.
We sat down with Daniel at RootsTech 2026. Here’s what you need to know.
Full Genome DNA Testing
MyHeritage has upgraded to full genome testing, which means they’re now analyzing more of your DNA than before. If you’ve already tested, don’t panic — your results are still valid. You’ll only need to retest when MyHeritage launches features that require the new data.
Scribe AI: The Feature That Made Someone Cry
Daniel had just come from the MyHeritage booth when we sat down with him. He described watching a woman standing at one of the computers in tears — good tears. She’d had a document from Denmark for 25 years that she couldn’t read. Scribe AI transcribed it, translated it into English, and gave her the historical context to understand what she was looking at in under 30 seconds.
Scribe AI works on documents, photos, tombstones, and letters. It doesn’t just transcribe, it interprets. You’ll need a Complete or Omni account to use it.
Family Graph and the “Amazing Videos”
Family Graph is a beautiful timeline graphic built from everything in your family tree — photos, records, the works — for a single ancestor. It was demoed at the RootsTech keynote and drew some tears from audience members.
Daniel also described an AI-powered transition video that stitched together multiple photos into a full timeline of a person’s life, without the uncanny-valley effect that plagues some AI photo tools. MyHeritage’s team is deliberately keeping the AI anchored to real source material so it doesn’t hallucinate. You can watch the in Gilad Japhet’s RootsTech session.
Gaia: An AI Research Assistant
Gaia is a conversational AI being trained specifically for genealogical research, and it lives entirely within your MyHeritage account. It analyzes your tree, tells you what you’re missing, and points you toward specific record types you may not have considered. Daniel gave a great example: upload land deeds, run them through Scribe AI for transcription, then ask Gaia what to do next.
Country Flags
A visual feature that puts national flags on each person in your tree based on birth or death location. For US researchers, it uses state flags rather than just the American flag, a thoughtful touch that acknowledges how differently Americans often identify. It also notes missing location data, so you know where your research has gaps.
What’s Coming Next
Daniel teased a major upcoming records collection, something he absolutely refused to name “on the record.” He also noted the recent release of Swedish records: all Swedish records in one place for the first time on MyHeritage. If they can do it for Sweden, he said, why not other countries?
Why not, indeed.
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RESOURCES & LINKS
- MyHeritage
- Gilad Japhet’s RootsTech 2026 Session
- MyHeritage RootsTech 2026 Roundup
- War of 1812 Pension Files on Fold3 (free)
- Evidentia Software
- APG letter opposing Massachusetts Bill H.5377
- Massachusetts Genealogical Council Call to Action
- Find your Massachusetts State Legislator
This episode is sponsored by Vivid-Pix. All product opinions are our own.
