Short answer: GAIA is MyHeritage's Genealogy AI Agent, launched on 4 November 2026. You describe in everyday words what you want to find, and it plans and runs multi-step research across MyHeritage's historical records and public web sources, weighs the evidence, shows its sources with a confidence level and suggests next steps. It adds findings to your family tree only when you approve. Active MyHeritage subscribers get a free usage allowance.

By Agent Playbox Editorial · Published

MyHeritage GAIA AI agent: your family history researcher

Key facts

What is MyHeritage GAIA?

GAIA, short for Genealogy AI Agent, is MyHeritage’s new research assistant for family history. MyHeritage describes it as a personal genealogy researcher that does the legwork for you: it pieces together scattered clues and explores avenues you may not have considered, while you guide the research (MyHeritage blog).

The launch was announced on 4 November 2026 from Tel Aviv and Lehi, Utah. Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet said agentic AI opens extraordinary new capabilities for genealogy, with the aim of giving people the skills of a professional genealogist while keeping them involved (The Olam).

How does GAIA research your family history?

Ask in your own words

You start at myheritage.com/research and pick the Research Agent tab. There is no need to know which record collections to search: you type a question in everyday language, and GAIA uses what is already in your family tree so you do not have to enter it again (MyHeritage blog). It may ask a clarifying question first or get straight to work.

Multi-step research, shown as it happens

GAIA searches MyHeritage’s full range of historical records and relevant public repositories on the web, comparing names, dates and relationships as it goes, and you can follow each search in the conversation (MyHeritage blog). The Olam reports that several specialised AI agents work together behind the scenes (The Olam). It is the same idea as our web research skill, applied to a field with very particular rules.

Evidence first

GAIA follows established genealogy methods. It treats information from other people’s trees as clues to investigate rather than facts, separates well-supported findings from uncertain possibilities and states its confidence (MyHeritage blog). Findings come in three kinds: direct mentions of a person, leads to archives that may hold more, and background such as migration patterns or local history. An Overview panel keeps the research question, a running summary, the people found and the relevant sources in one place.

Does GAIA change your family tree?

Only if you say so. When GAIA finds something about a person in your tree, you can click “Compare with your tree” to see what is new, what improves an existing detail and what conflicts with it, then choose exactly what to save (MyHeritage blog). MyHeritage says GAIA never adds or changes information without your explicit approval. If you have no tree yet, GAIA can help you start one from the people it identifies.

Conversations are saved, so you can return to a research session later or start a new one for a different question. MyHeritage also says that information you share with GAIA is never used to train AI models, and that you consent to processing by external AI services before you begin (Business Wire).

How much does GAIA cost and where can you use it?

GAIA runs in English on the MyHeritage website, in desktop and mobile browsers, with more languages planned (MyHeritage blog). It is not in the MyHeritage mobile app (MyHeritage help).

Every active MyHeritage subscriber gets a free GAIA allowance. For more research, MyHeritage offers two plans: OmniAI, with all Omni benefits plus extended GAIA usage, and OmniAI+, with an even larger allowance (MyHeritage blog). Prices for these plans were not published in the announcement (The Olam), so we list them as unknown. Usage shows as a percentage because each question uses a different amount, and on one-year plans it renews on your renewal date (MyHeritage help). Genealogy blogger Randy Seaver noted he was at 79% after ten discussions (Genea-Musings).

What does GAIA mean for family historians?

For hobbyists and professionals alike, the promise is time. One early user, Kathy, said: “It’s taken me a couple of decades to find these records, and GAIA found them in just a few minutes” (MyHeritage blog). Genealogist James Tanner said GAIA asked good questions, reached well-grounded conclusions and found details on children missing from his own files.

MyHeritage is also honest about limits: a session may not find a definitive answer, ruling out a wrong match can be just as useful, and important findings should still be checked against the sources. That makes it a good fit for a research analyst-style workflow where you stay the editor.

How does GAIA compare with general AI agents?

General assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude can talk about genealogy, but MyHeritage argues they lack direct access to its billions of historical records, specialised research methods and your family tree (MyHeritage blog). A general research agent like Perplexity Computer covers far more topics and tasks, while GAIA goes deep on one.

See GAIA vs Perplexity Computer for the side-by-side facts, or browse the best personal AI agents of 2026.

What should you watch next with GAIA?

MyHeritage says it is working on more control over research, such as excluding other people’s trees from searches, choosing which tree GAIA uses, and more languages (MyHeritage blog). Further out, it is exploring agentic AI for DNA, photos and matches, and Japhet named genetic genealogy as a likely next area (The Olam).

We will keep the GAIA profile current, including OmniAI prices once they are public. For more new agents, see our agent news or the full agent directory.

Timeline: how did we get here?

Agent snapshot: what do we know so far?

Facts below come from the agent profiles in our directory, each linked to its source.

GAIA (MyHeritage) at a glance

Full GAIA (MyHeritage) profile

Perplexity Computer at a glance

Full Perplexity Computer profile

Related comparisons and guides

Agents in this story

GAIA (MyHeritage)

personal agent

MyHeritage's Genealogy AI Agent: describe in plain words what you want to find and it plans multi-step family history research across MyHeritage's records and the public web, weighs the evidence, shows sources with confidence levels and saves findings to your tree only with your approval.

Perplexity Computer

business agent

Perplexity's agent for end-to-end projects: it plans the work, picks the right model for each step, connects to hundreds of apps and hands back finished research, reports, dashboards and apps. Since 20 Oct 2026 it can also run fully on your Mac.

Frequently asked questions

What is GAIA?

GAIA is MyHeritage's Genealogy AI Agent. It plans and carries out multi-step family history research across MyHeritage's records and public web sources, shows its evidence with confidence levels and suggests next steps.

When did GAIA launch?

MyHeritage announced GAIA on 4 November 2026. It is available in English on the MyHeritage website.

Is GAIA free?

Active MyHeritage subscribers get a free usage allowance. More usage comes with the OmniAI and OmniAI+ plans, whose prices were not published in the announcement.

Will GAIA edit my family tree?

Only with your explicit approval. You compare its findings with your tree and choose what to save.

Can I use GAIA in the MyHeritage app?

Not yet. Use it on a computer or in a phone or tablet browser.

Sources

Updated