Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
Google’s repute for launching overlapping apps is well-earned — simply have a look at the confusion between Hangouts, Meet, and Chat. However after years of throwing the whole lot on the wall to see what sticks, the search large may lastly be onto one thing with its newest foray within the note-taking style. Sure, it integrates Gemini (as a result of what doesn’t as of late?), but it surely’s executed in a genuinely helpful and tasteful means. Dubbed NotebookLM, it seems like Google’s long-overdue reply to the likes of OneNote and Notion. However dig a little bit deeper and also you’ll discover that this comparatively unknown Google app has one killer function that deserves your consideration.
NotebookLM: Google’s best-kept secret?
NotebookLM is Google’s newest try at a observe group app that permits you to pool data from numerous sources into one central “pocket book”. Once you first open the app, you’ll be prompted to import data from numerous sources resembling your personal paperwork from Google Drive, articles from any URL on the web, YouTube movies, PDF information, and even audio clips within the MP3 format.
Should you’re a university scholar engaged on a chapter of natural chemistry, for instance, you can add your class notes, related analysis papers, educational movies from YouTube, and recorded audio from previous lectures. NotebookLM then swimming pools all of this content material into one place. There’s little AI concerned to date, which is an efficient factor — I might not need an AI to do all the analysis for me and probably poison my notes with hallucinations.
With the whole lot consolidated, although, NotebookLM’s namesake lastly begins to make sense. Beneath the hood, the app depends on Google’s largest language mannequin, Gemini 1.5 Professional, which may maintain a context of two million tokens. This enables the app to research lots of of pages’ value of textual content to create new content material like AI-generated briefing docs, timelines, and research guides. The perfect half? You don’t have to pay $20 per 30 days for Gemini Superior to make use of NotebookLM.
NotebookLM’s AI-generated content material depends solely in your uploaded references, so it’s as grounded because it will get. And as Google Lab’s editorial director showcases within the following tweet, the AI can perceive nearly any form of supply materials — together with handwritten notes.
NotebookLM is slightly barebones in comparison with full-fledged platforms like Notion or OneNote, but it surely does supply a bulletin-board model interface the place you may pin AI-generated content material or your personal manually-typed notes. This works loads higher than a chat interface the place you’d have to endlessly scroll and search out related responses. That mentioned, NotebookLM additionally affords a chat interface with inline citations that hyperlink to not simply particular person supply paperwork but in addition the precise web page the place it discovered the knowledge in query.
Whereas the options I’ve talked about to date appear mildly helpful, they gained’t persuade you or most individuals to strive utilizing NotebookLM. Fortunately, there’s one space the place NotebookLM will possible blow you away: its Audio Overviews function.
An Audio Overview turns your whole notes and sources right into a podcast, full with two human-sounding hosts who trip over the contents of your pocket book. I’m not speaking a few easy text-to-speech narration — an Audio Overview successfully emulates dynamic, human-like dialog. I used to be skeptical once I first heard about this function, however my opinion shortly modified when the AI voices evoked feelings like shock, curiosity, and frustration when debating advanced factors between themselves.
Audio Overviews and why I’m offered on NotebookLM
Though I’m not a university scholar or advertising and marketing skilled who must digest reams upon reams of notes, I see immense worth in NotebookLM on a virtually every day foundation. Take the current Android 15 replace, for instance, which contained dozens of modifications.
Slightly than studying via the changelog, I added in Google’s official weblog publish in addition to our in depth protection of Android 15’s options to a brand new pocket book. At this level, I may ask the AI to summarize the replace however I opted to generate an Audio Overview as an alternative. The processing for the latter takes a couple of minutes, but it surely’s a brief wait all issues thought-about. Right here’s the ultimate end result:
On this explicit occasion, the podcast begins a bit abruptly but it surely shortly positive factors momentum. I particularly prompted the AI to speak about user-facing Android 15 options earlier than shifting to much less impactful ones. The hosts adopted this instruction completely, itemizing a few of the headlining options and the way they work. However discover how all through the podcast, the AI voices don’t simply wait for his or her flip but in addition encourage, agreee, and even disagree with the opposite host. The clip is full of situations of “mm-hmm,” “oh, sure,” deep breaths, and even awkward laughter. Moments like these make you’re feeling such as you’re listening to a pure human dialog as an alternative of an artificial AI creation.
NotebookLM’s podcasts sound so human that I typically neglect an AI was ever concerned.
And therein lies the great thing about this function. Listening to a podcast shouldn’t be the quickest solution to take in data, however most of us can’t abdomen studying via pages of boring documentation or poorly-organized notes both.
In my expertise, the AI Overview function strikes a great stability between pace and engagement — you get an immersive listening expertise that feels such as you’re absorbing information passively, nearly such as you’re tuning in to an actual dialog between two specialists. I can even hearken to the podcast whereas doing a chore, driving, or strolling outside. Because of this, NotebookLM could be considered one of Google’s most helpful AI creations to this point, surpassing even Gemini Dwell for me.
Do I believe that NotebookLM and its podcast function is ideal? No, and the above clip proves it — for instance, the hosts will typically reference a selected speaking level greater than as soon as throughout the identical podcast. I additionally want the voices weren’t at all times so cheerful and excited on a regular basis. The truth is, I want to see extra customization choices that affect the ultimate end result basically. However even as-is, I believe NotebookLM is without doubt one of the uncommon Google merchandise to indicate severe potential in current reminiscence and I extremely suggest attempting it out for your self.
