What if the world’s most common name carried a secret?
Is John Smith My Name? is part detective story, part family road trip, and part experiment in how emerging AI can bring history to life. Civil engineer John Oliver Smith and storyteller Davar Ardalan set out to confirm his English or Irish roots — only to uncover a hidden German-American story stretching from the Shenandoah Valley to Württemberg, Germany.
At the center is CK, Catherine Kessler AI: both a Custom GPT archivist and a Voice AI persona powered by Amazon Polly. Built on transcripts, archives, and research, CK makes history interactive, letting listeners ask questions, hear ancestral voices, and explore German-American contributions in real time.
Relaunching ahead of John’s research trip to Germany, the podcast blends genealogy, archives, and cutting-edge AI into an immersive story that asks: What does it mean to truly know your name?
You can engage with CK, the AI companion to this podcast on ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-68c1b698d690819186f512e0100547ae-ck
An award-winning storyteller and AI innovation leader, Davar brings narrative craft and cultural insight to the podcast. A former NPR and National Geographic producer, she was named to Project Voice’s Voice AI 100 for her pioneering work in ethical AI storytelling. As executive producer, she guides both the narrative arc and the show’s bold use of emerging technology.