Google's NotebookLM Enhances AI Podcasts with Customizable Formats and Voices

Google's NotebookLM now lets you customize the tone of its AI podcasts | TechCrunch

Google's AI note-taking and research assistant NotebookLM now lets users customize the tone of their Audio Overviews, which are podcasts with AI virtual hosts that summarize and discuss documents shared with NotebookLM, such as course readings or legal briefs. When generating an Audio Overview, users can now choose whether they want their AI podcasts to be formatted as a "Deep Dive," "Brief," "Critique," or "Debate." A Deep Dive features conversational dialogues where two AI hosts unpack the topic with depth and questions. A Brief is a bite-sized overview that's designed to help you quickly grasp the core ideas from your sources. A Critique features a review of your sources and constructive feedback to help you improve, while a Debate includes two AI hosts offering different perspectives on your sources. Each of the different formats lets you customize how long or short you want the AI podcast to be. In addition to customizable tones, Google is also bringing a highly requested feature to NotebookLM, which is the addition of new voices for the AI podcasts. The launch comes as Google has been building out NotebookLM over the past few months. A few weeks ago, the tech giant rolled out Video Overviews, which allow users to turn dense multimedia, such as raw notes, PDFs, and images, into digestible visual presentations. NotebookLM recently also got access to a series of featured notebooks from various authors, publications, researchers, and nonprofits that allow users to explore a wide array of topics. And in May, Google officially rolled out standalone NotebookLM apps for Android and iOS. The new formats for NotebookLM are launching in all languages and should be available to all users this week, Google says.

NotebookLM's New Audio Overviews Can Have AI Voices Debate Based on Your Notes

Blake has over a decade of experience writing for the web, with a focus on mobile phones, where he covered the smartphone boom of the 2010s and the broader tech scene. When he's not in front of a keyboard, you'll most likely find him playing video games, watching horror flicks, or hunting down a good churro. NotebookLM, a Gemini-powered AI research assistant, will soon generate a debate or critique your research and notes in its Audio Overviews feature. Three new audio summary formats announced on Tuesday -- called Brief, Critique and Debate -- will give users more options and add more flavor to what is already one of Google's best AI tools. The Audio Overviews feature was a catalyst for NotebookLM's popularity as a note-taking tool that uses only the sources you provide and makes the information more digestible. NotebookLM is multimodal, so you can create a podcast-like Audio Overview or generate a study guide if that's more your style. Though Audio Overviews was novel when first demoed in 2024, Google has since incorporated it into more of its products. Google recently introduced the first Video Overview format, too. Here's what's new. When first introduced, Audio Overviews provided a "deep dive" on your sources, cutting through the fat and focusing on a general overview of the subject. Later, Google introduced a way to customize your Audio Overviews so you can focus on the material that matters most to you. You can also customize the length of an overview. While the default option is still the typical Deep Dive, three new options -- Brief, Critique and Debate -- are rolling out to users now. Though I haven't been able to test out the new Overview types, I imagine both the Critique and Debate formats could be useful for learning different perspectives that you may not have previously considered. The introduction of different Audio Overview formats is a solid upgrade, especially if you're looking for alternative approaches to a subject. The new formats also open the doors for even more options in the future, allowing NotebookLM to become a more nuanced learning tool.

Google's NotebookLM now lets you customize your AI podcasts in tone and length

The formats offer users more interactive, customizable information distillation. Google's NotebookLM audio overview feature went viral because it uses AI to create engaging, realistic podcasts from your content. The feature just got a facelift, making it even more helpful, allowing you to customize the podcast to suit your needs even further. Also: I used NotebookLM for a month. Here's why it's a game changer On Wednesday, Google launched new audio formats in NotebookLM. With the new format, users can continue to convert their information, notes, and data that a user input into podcasts, but this time they will have the option to customize the end results with four new styles that vary in tone and length. The four styles now include the default audio format: Deep Dive, which thoroughly examines your information sources for a comprehensive review; Brief, which provides a two-minute-or-less overview of need-to-know information; Critique, which critically analyzes your material; and Debate, which takes your information and gets two hosts to debate it. Users can customize the audio formats to make them shorter or longer, as well as instruct the AI hosts to focus on a certain material included within NotebookLM. NotebookLM's demo on X shows an example prompt requesting that the hosts only cover information from the article on Italy, as seen below. The new formats also feature new voices, a highly requested feature. This is distinctly different from NotebookLM's audio deliveries in the past, where users could only use one standard format. The new feature better accommodates different types of learners and needs. For example, if you are in a rush, you can now opt for a quick overlook of your document via the Brief feature, or if you need ot be engaged with more deliberating, the Debate feature may be better suited for your needs. Google shared in the X post that the feature is available in all languages and that rollout starts today. Google added that it should be available for all users this week. As seen in the picture at the top of the article or in the demo above, selecting the new format is intuitive, as it will automatically populate as an option when clicking the Audio Overview function. The various audio formats build on useful functionalities within the AI-powered NotebookLM that save users time by assisting them with organization and information comprehension. When ZDNET's Sabrina Ortiz used the AI product, she called the organization system "incredibly helpful" for workers and students alike, as it can generate study guides, a briefing document, FAQs, a timeline, or a podcast. Also: PayPal and Venmo users can try Perplexity's Comet AI browser free for a year now The new audio formats should save workers and students time ahead of a meeting or class preparations when they are tasked with reading several documents or discussion threads and presenting ideas on them. The tool does much of the heavy lifting for the user, providing a digestible information stream, especially helpful as workers are constantly facing information and task overload, removing critical thought or mental expenditure. One pitfall of AI products, like chatbots or AI assistants, is their tendency to hallucinate information based on the hundreds of thousands of unreliable sources from the web. Since NotebookLM only uses the information users provide, the AI bot sources information from users' curated sources, addressing a big pain point for working professionals.

NotebookLM's latest update makes Audio Overviews way better -- here's how I'm using them now

Google's working on a lot of different AI tools in Google Labs, its experimental playground, but none have taken off as much as NotebookLM. And there's one feature that deserves most of the credit for its viral success: Audio Overviews. Though Google first announced the feature in September 2024, it hasn't seen many major improvements since then. The biggest changes so far have been support for more languages beyond English and the option to choose between Shorter, Default, and Longer versions. Well, the Audio Overviews feature has finally received what I'd consider its biggest update since launch. A couple of days ago, the NotebookLM team announced via a X (formerly Twitter) post that it's rolling out new Audio Overview formats. The team followed up with another post that the new formats have now been rolled out to all users in all languages. So, of course, I had to immediately try them out and see how they fit into my workflow. What new Audio Overview formats are now available in NotebookLM? Brief, Critique, and Debate With this update, NotebookLM gets three new Audio Overview formats: Brief, Critique, and Debate. Before Google introduced these new formats, the only option available was the default Deep Dive format, which NotebookLM describes as a "lively conversation between two hosts." You can try these Audio Overview formats by heading to the Studio panel, clicking the pencil icon in the Audio Overview section, and then selecting your desired format. It's essentially an engaging podcast, and it's hands-down been my favorite way to get a quick yet comprehensive understanding of my sources. However, since I've been using the Audio Overview feature almost daily since it first launched, it's honestly started to feel a bit repetitive. That's why these new formats immediately caught my attention. Though NotebookLM's team didn't mention it in the X post where they announced the update, the new Audio Overview formats also include something users (myself included) have been waiting on forever: new NotebookLM voices. So, it's another thing to be genuinely excited about if you've been using Audio Overviews regularly. Unfortunately, though the new Audio Overview formats have been rolled out in all languages, you don't have any control over the length of the output. With the default Deep Dive format, you can choose between Shorter, Default and Longer. However, you're only limited to the Default length with the new formats. The Debate mode is perfect for exploring both sides of any topic Perfect for understanding every perspective I primarily rely on NotebookLM for studying since my major includes a fair share of memorization-heavy subjects like history and law. When I used the Deep Dive Audio Overview format to study these subjects, it felt a bit too much like listening to two people casually discussing the material. When NotebookLM announced the Debate mode, I instantly knew it'd be perfect for courses and topics where I'd need to dig into opposing viewpoints and remember arguments more effectively. Given I'm currently on summer break, and I'm not enrolled in a course I feel would be a perfect fit for Debate mode, I decided to test it out on one of my own articles instead. Of course, I chose an article where I was presenting a clear argument, since that felt like the closest substitute for a debate-heavy course topic. So, I used my article about comparing the Copilot Mode in Microsoft Edge to Perplexity's Comet browser. As expected, NotebookLM did what it promised, with one host tackling the strengths of Edge's Copilot Mode and how it's better (which is the same argument I made in my article) and the other favoring Perplexity's Comet and how it might be a stronger option depending on the context. What I found really impressive is how, even though my article didn't cover two opposing points and only focused on Edge's Copilot Mode, NotebookLM still managed to generate a balanced debate by pulling in counterarguments and presenting them in a way that felt natural. For instance, the male host, who was on Comet's side, mentioned the first point I made: that Copilot Mode feels more like a natural extension of the browser itself rather than just an add-on. The host intelligently went over all the points I raised and clearly explained why they made Copilot Mode the stronger choice. Both hosts had an engaging back-and-forth, and each made points that felt well-reasoned and complementary rather than forced. They also managed to string together answers to questions one dropped into the conversation, with the other picking them up seamlessly and adding a counterpoint. For example, one point I made in the article was how I wasn't a fan that Comet had Perplexity as its default search engine. The host favoring Copilot made the same point, and the other host countered with the fact that the default engine can be changed if you prefer something else. Both hosts extracted examples mentioned in my article, which I know will be extremely helpful for the times when I'm using this format to study. Instead of just passively listening, I'd be able to hear arguments and counterarguments framed in a way that pushes me to think critically about the material. I also noticed that the hosts expanded on points I made by including examples of their own, which really made the debate feel richer and more engaging. It didn't just sound like they were parroting back my article and felt like they were building on it. The Brief Overview is ideal when you need an extremely quick summary When you need a lightning-fast recap Even if you're not a student anymore, you probably remember the moment when you had just two minutes before an exam and felt like you were forgetting everything you'd spent the past few weeks learning. I know that feeling all too well, and the Brief format is perfect for exactly those moments. As the format's name suggests, it produces bite-sized overviews that are between one to two minutes long, giving you a super quick refresher without overwhelming you with details. Unlike the typical Audio Overview Deep Dives or the Debate format, this overview is hosted by a single voice, making it concise, straightforward, and easy to follow in record time. For instance, I'm currently learning more advanced Swift using NotebookLM, and I wanted to hear a quick recap of everything I've learned so far. A podcast-style discussion hosted by two people, which would typically last several minutes, felt like overkill, and the Brief format gave me exactly what I needed -- just the essentials, fast and clear. The Critique Overview is perfect for getting expert feedback on your material Like having a professor give expert feedback on your work Ever wanted to know how something you've worked on would be evaluated before sending it to your instructor or your boss? As someone who overthinks every possible thing and anxiously waits for feedback, I know I have. Well, the Critique Overview is designed for exactly that. It provides an expert-style review of your material, highlighting strengths, pointing out weaknesses, and offering constructive suggestions to help you improve. After a quick hello and welcome, the hosts immediately said: Let's jump into the feedback. We've looked at your material, and there's some good stuff here, and well, areas we can refine. And then it immediately began explaining how the content within the sources I uploaded in the notebook could have been better. I generated the Critique Overview of the same notebook I'm using to learn Swift, and it managed to analyze topics my sources only briefly mentioned instead of providing in-depth explanations. It highlighted areas where my sources skimmed over important concepts and suggested ways to expand or clarify them. Rather than just pointing out what was missing, it offered actionable guidance on how to improve my understanding and make my notes more complete. The hosts explained how examples and explanations could be better and even suggested additional analogies to make complex topics easier to grasp. By the end, I had a clear sense of what needed more attention and how to approach it, making the Critique Overview feel like having a personal tutor review my work. The reason I tried the Critique Overview and the Brief with the same example was that I wanted to see how they truly differ. Though the Swift notebook isn't what I expect to be using this format for, I will use it for essays I'd like to polish or projects I want to refine before submission. The Critique Overview is ideal for work that benefits from detailed feedback, helping me catch gaps, improve explanations, and strengthen the overall quality of my material. The update I've been waiting for Though NotebookLM's got dozens of updates in the past few months and has introduced great features like Mind Maps and Video Overviews, the Audio Overviews feature is still my most-used feature. So, I'm thrilled Google finally added new formats!

NotebookLM can now argue with itself over your notes

Each format changes how two AI hosts present your notes, from summaries to arguments. NotebookLM has quickly become a favorite of ours. We've used it to cut through everything from apartment contracts to car manuals, and it's consistently proven to be one of Google's most practical AI tools. But it's also got a creative side, especially with its podcast-style Audio Overviews. Coinciding with its huge court victory, Google just added some extra flair to make that feature even more flexible. NotebookLM's official account announced on X that NotebookLM Audio Overviews now come in four distinct formats: Deep Dive, Brief, Critique, and Debate. A demo video shows the desktop app switching between each format, with the AI voices shifting tone accordingly. The update is rolling out now. Each new format brings something different to the table. Deep Dive is the long-form option we were already familiar with, with hosts unpacking your material at length. Brief squeezes it into a quick one- or two-minute summary, Critique frames it as expert-style feedback, and Debate stages a back-and-forth to highlight competing viewpoints. This update follows Google's recent push to expand NotebookLM Audio and Video Overview capabilities. They were recently upgraded to support more than 80 non-English languages, making them just as detailed as the English versions. Google has clearly realized that it's onto a good thing with the tool and is determined to fine-tune it.

Google's NotebookLM is giving Audio Overviews new personalities

Similar to its web implementation, Google Docs on Android might soon gain a voice NotebookLM is clearly near and dear to Google, and the tech giant's commitment to the platform is undeniable. That shows in the rapid pace at which it continues to roll out new features. Soon after the platform doubled down on Overviews by rolling out video support, it is now bringing more customization options to the flagship feature that popularized the platform in the first place. Up until now, NotebookLM's podcast-like Audio Overviews could be customized into different languages, with the only other customization option being the overall discussion's length and what the AI hosts should focus on. That changes drastically with what Google just rolled out. Announced by the platform in an X (Twitter) post, via TechCrunch, NotebookLM is gaining new Audio Overview formats that each offer distinct ways of analyzing and summarizing information. Said formats include: Deep Dive: A lively conversation between two hosts, unpacking and connecting topics in your sources. Brief: A bite-sized overview to help you grasp the core ideas from your sources quickly. Critique: An expert review of your sources, offering constructive feedback to help you improve your material. Debate: A thoughtful debate between two hosts, illuminating different perspectives on your sources. Oh, and, more features are on the way! Deep Dive gives you short, default, and lengthy overview options, while Critique and Debate give you only short and default options. You can't customize the overview's length if you opt for the 'Brief' format. The new formats are available in all languages that Audio Overviews are available in. Additionally, each new format also comes with new AI voices, essentially unlocking a far more personalized listening experience. The feature began rolling out yesterday and should be available widely within the week. I, for reference, already have access to the new formats. Elsewhere, within the same tweet, NotebookLM also indicated that it will soon gain the ability to analyze full Google Drive folders as sources. For reference, currently users can only upload individual documents like Google Docs and Slides. It's not entirely clear when support for uploading full folders might arrive, but given the speed at which NotebookLM has been rolling out new features, we wouldn't be surprised if this functionality arrives sooner rather than later.

Google NotebookLM's AI podcast hosts can now get into an argument over your notes

The update moves the platform toward more interactive audio AI setups The AI-produced 'podcasts' from Google's NotebookLM are now a lot chattier when discussing the notes and sources you upload to the platform. You can now hear the 'hosts' discuss in four distinct audio formats, each designed to suit different learning styles, moods, and attention spans. Instead of just the conversational "Deep Dive," you can also use the "Brief," "Critique," and "Debate" forms. Together, they signal a move toward more flexible AI learning system, not just a reliance on a single method of sharing information. The concept behind Audio Overviews has always been to transform written material into something you can listen to when you're multitasking or prefer to learn by listening. Up until now, the audio experience has been fairly one-size-fits-all. You got what amounted to a laid-back podcast: two AI voices walking through your content conversationally, often with a helpful but distinctly bland tone. The new modes change that dynamic, allowing users to select not just how long the audio lasts, but what kind of intellectual experience they want from it. As the name suggests, the "Brief" format makes for a quick summary of no more than a couple of minutes. The "Critique" approach is more of a constructive feedback on what you've uploaded, which is more useful if you've written the material as opposed to trying to learn from existing essays. And asking for the "Debate" mode gets the two AI hosts together not to agreeably discuss information, but to take opposing positions on something central to the uploaded data. You can change formats by tapping the pencil icon in the Audio Overview card and selecting your preferred style. That's where you can customize options like tone, language, and length, too. The significance of the update goes beyond just how people set up AI voices to fight. It shows how AI educational tools are evolving from static summarizers into dynamic assistants. It also suggests that Google is betting that people want to listen to their own documents like they do podcasts and that they'll want those documents to speak in different tones, depending on what they're trying to accomplish. There's also the accessibility angle. Audio formats can be game-changing for people with visual impairments or reading challenges, or even just users who process information better by ear. Offering varied formats could help tailor the cognitive load, giving users a chance to decide what kind of mental energy they want to expend. Though still dealing with quirks and errors like all AI tools, the promise of the new Audio Overview formats lies not just in making the summaries better, but in making them work with more diverse sets of data. The "Debate" format demands the AI process not just facts, but logical refutations. The obvious benefit is that more people will get better at spotting holes in their own logic. But that might mean people don't think beyond what the AI suggests, and critical thinking is, well, critical to life. The updated Audio Overviews are rolling out in the U.S. but will likely go global soon.

NotebookLM adds brief, critique, debate audio formats

Google's NotebookLM, a tool designed for summarizing and analyzing documents, has received an update enhancing its Audio Overview feature. This update introduces three new formats -- Brief, Critique, and Debate -- adding to the existing Deep Dive option. The announcement, made via NotebookLM's official X account, coincides with Google's recent legal victory. The newly implemented formats offer users varied methods for processing information. Deep Dive, the original format, provides a comprehensive and detailed exploration of the material. Brief distills the information into a concise summary lasting approximately one to two minutes. Critique presents the material as an expert analysis, offering feedback and evaluation. Finally, Debate stages a simulated discussion between two AI voices, highlighting conflicting perspectives and arguments within the text. A demonstration video showcases the desktop application's ability to switch between these formats. The AI voices adjust their tone and style to match the selected format, creating a distinct experience for each. Google is currently rolling out this update to users. This development follows Google's broader initiative to expand the capabilities of NotebookLM's Audio and Video Overviews. Recent upgrades have extended support to more than 80 non-English languages, ensuring the same level of detail and functionality available in English versions. Google's ongoing investment in NotebookLM indicates a commitment to refining and improving the tool as its user base grows.

NotebookLM Will Now Let You Choose From Four Audio Overviews Formats

* Google says each new format includes new AI voices * The Brief and Critique formats only include a single AI host * NotebookLM's new audio formats are available to all users Google's NotebookLM is receiving a new update that allows users to generate Audio Overviews of their sources in different formats. On Tuesday, the Mountain View-based tech giant announced that the podcast-style audio discussion feature will be available in four new formats, including Deep Dive, Brief, Critique, and Debate. The company also highlighted that the new formats feature new voices powered by artificial intelligence (AI), but did not provide additional details. The update is currently rolling out to all users of the platform. NotebookLM Audio Overviews Now Offer More Customisation In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Google announced that the popular Audio Overviews can now be customised in four different formats. The basic feature remains the same, where one or more AI hosts discuss the sources selected by the user in a podcast-style conversation; however, the presentation of the information can now be changed. The four Audio Overviews format in NotebookLM Photo Credit: NotebookLM The new feature will be available to all users across all supported 80 languages. The company said the global rollout will be complete by the end of this week. Gadgets 360 staff members were able to access and briefly test out the new NotebookLM feature. Deep Dive is the original format that has been available to users so far. It features two AI hosts who discuss and unpack the topic in a conversation. The Brief format offers a bite-sized overview of the topic to help users get a quick understanding of the topic. Critique, the third new format, is designed to offer an expert review of the user's sources. This mode is more useful when a user wants constructive feedback on a school essay, thesis, or assess resources for a research project. Finally, the Debate format features two AI hosts with opposing viewpoints to bring out the different perspectives from the selected sources. To select different Audio Overviews formats, users will have to click the pencil icon added to the feature's badge. This opens a pop-up box where the four formats can be seen. Users can adjust the length of these formats to generate an audio of the desired length. Additionally, the box also lets users select the language to generate the audio in. As with Deep Dive, audios of all formats can be downloaded as well. Notably, the Brief and Critique audio modes feature only a single AI host, whereas Deep Dive and Debate feature two AI hosts. NotebookLM mentioned in a separate post that each format includes new AI voices, but did not provide any details about the differences between the voices.