Google's NotebookLM: Revolutionizing AI-Assisted Research and Content Creation

Why NotebookLM is the Ultimate Tool for Creatives in 2024

In a world where information is abundant but time is scarce, finding efficient ways to manage and use data can feel like a never-ending quest. Whether you're a student juggling multiple assignments, a professional striving to stay ahead in your field, or a content creator looking to streamline your workflow. The challenge remains the same: how to make sense of it all without feeling overwhelmed. Google NotebookLM and it's latest updates may be able to help you, by not only gathering information from diverse sources but also weaving it into interactive and engaging content. NotebookLM, is a tool that goes beyond mere data organization, offering dynamic content creation possibilities. From generating podcasts and study guides to crafting detailed briefings and FAQs, Google's NotebookLM is your partner in creativity and productivity. NotebookLM can become an indispensable part of your digital toolkit. Accessing NotebookLM is straightforward and user-friendly. Here's what you need to know: Once logged in, you're ready to embark on your NotebookLM journey. The platform's intuitive interface allows you to start creating projects immediately, with a clean workspace that encourages productivity and creativity. NotebookLM's power lies in its versatility and comprehensive feature set. Let's provide more insight into its core functionalities: Data Integration: NotebookLM excels in bringing together information from diverse sources. You can upload and integrate data from: This extensive integration capability allows you to create rich, multifaceted projects that draw from a wide array of information. Interactive Summaries: One of NotebookLM's standout features is its ability to generate interactive summaries from your integrated data. This functionality enables you to: By synthesizing information from multiple sources, NotebookLM helps you gain deeper insights and create more comprehensive content. Find more information on Google account by browsing our extensive range of articles, guides and tutorials. NotebookLM isn't just about organizing information; it's a powerful tool for content creation. The platform supports the generation of: This versatility makes NotebookLM an invaluable asset for educators, content creators, researchers, and professionals across various fields. You can tailor your content to specific audiences, creating engaging and informative materials that resonate with your target demographic. Effective organization is crucial for any project, and NotebookLM offers robust features to keep your work structured and accessible: These features ensure that your projects remain organized, allowing you to focus on content creation rather than getting bogged down in file management. NotebookLM's AI capabilities extend beyond basic organization and summarization. The platform offers: These advanced interactions foster creativity and help you explore topics from multiple angles, leading to richer, more nuanced content creation. NotebookLM's versatility makes it suitable for a wide range of applications: By using NotebookLM's features, you can streamline your workflow and produce high-quality, personalized content efficiently. To get the most out of NotebookLM: NotebookLM is more than just a tool; it's a platform that evolves with your needs, continually offering new ways to create, learn, and share knowledge. As you embark on your NotebookLM journey, remember that the key to mastering this powerful tool lies in exploration and practice. By consistently engaging with its features and pushing the boundaries of your content creation, you'll unlock new possibilities and enhance your productivity across various domains.

Google's NotebookLM: The AI Assistant You Didn't Know You Needed

NotebookLM, Google's innovative AI research assistant, is transforming the landscape of data analysis and research. Powered by the sophisticated multimodal Gemini 1.5 model, this tool seamlessly integrates and processes diverse data sources, significantly enhancing your research capabilities. Whether you're a student, academic, or business professional, NotebookLM offers a comprehensive solution to streamline your information gathering and analysis processes. Whether you're a student grappling with dense academic texts, a business professional navigating complex market analyses, or simply someone with a thirst for knowledge, the struggle to efficiently manage and synthesize information is all too familiar. NotebookLM, Google's powerful AI research assistant cannot only create podcasts of your notes, but can also transform the way you interact with data. By seamlessly integrating a variety of sources -- from PDFs to YouTube videos -- this tool promises to streamline your research process, making those overwhelming information dumps a thing of the past. But what sets NotebookLM apart from the myriad of tools already available? At its core is the powerful Gemini 1.5 model, which not only processes data but does so with a depth and breadth that feels almost human. Imagine uploading up to 50 different sources and receiving a cohesive, insightful summary that highlights key topics and trends. It's like having a personal research assistant who not only understands your needs but anticipates them. NotebookLM's versatility is evident in its support for a wide array of file formats: This flexibility allows you to consolidate information from numerous sources effortlessly. The tool's 2 million token context window enables it to process documents collectively, offering deep insights and comprehensive summaries that would be time-consuming to generate manually. NotebookLM excels in: These features make NotebookLM invaluable for handling large volumes of information, especially when dealing with complex research topics or extensive data sets. NotebookLM allows you to upload up to 50 different information sources, facilitating extensive data integration. This capability is particularly useful for: The system generates answers with precise source references, making sure the credibility and traceability of information. You can customize the focus and expertise level of AI-generated content, aligning the output with your specific objectives and target audience. To access NotebookLM, you need a Google account, which ensures seamless integration with other Google services. The user interface is designed to be intuitive, featuring example notebooks that guide you through setup and usage. Sharing options for notebooks and audio overviews promote collaboration and knowledge sharing among users, making it an excellent tool for team projects and group research efforts. Take a look at other insightful guides from our broad collection that might capture your interest in AI research assistant. In educational settings, NotebookLM serves as a powerful study aid. It enhances learning and comprehension by: For small and medium-sized businesses, NotebookLM offers efficient document management and team collaboration solutions. It streamlines workflows by: While NotebookLM already offers a comprehensive suite of features, there's potential for further enhancements to improve user interaction. Possible future developments could include: NotebookLM represents a significant advancement in AI-assisted research tools. Its ability to analyze and synthesize information from diverse sources makes it an indispensable asset for enhancing research and data analysis capabilities across various fields. As AI technology continues to evolve, tools like NotebookLM are set to play an increasingly crucial role in how we process and understand complex information in both academic and professional contexts. By using NotebookLM's capabilities, users can significantly reduce the time spent on manual data compilation and analysis, allowing for more focus on critical thinking and creative problem-solving. This tool not only enhances individual productivity but also has the potential to accelerate the pace of research and innovation across multiple disciplines.

NotebookLM is Google's ChatGPT Moment

"The fact that we are source-grounded is what makes the product so unique." Google's NotebookLM has the potential to revolutionise how we engage with content -- it's scarily good and has already taken the internet by storm, quickly becoming a favourite release of the year. Many are even calling it Google's own ChatGPT moment. "It's possible that NotebookLM podcast episode generation is touching on a whole new territory of highly compelling LLM product formats. Feels reminiscent of ChatGPT," said founder of Eureka Labs, Andrej Karpathy. "Maybe I'm overreacting." The new update includes customisable Audio Overviews and the launch of NotebookLM Business. These features allow users to personalise AI-driven audio summaries by focusing on specific topics and adjusting the expertise level. "Think of it like slipping the AI hosts a quick note right before they go on the air, which will change how they cover your material," shared the team at Google. But, the question remains: Will this be the end of podcasters? "From what I have seen a lot of the things that people are making with NotebookLM are not the same things that we would have a real podcast about," said Martin, emphasising how she would still like to listen to her favourite podcaster Lenny, instead of an AI-generated voice and their views on a particular subject. Perhaps not yet. The product lead at NotebookLM believes that people are still using the tool for more personal reasons, than a larger audience, and it would not be wise to restrict the definition to just a podcast. Actually, it goes beyond just podcasts. For instance, AIM extracted information from the latest episodes of Nikhil Kamath's People by WTF podcast with Nandan Nilekani and Lex Fridman's podcast with Sam Altman into their respective NotebookLM versions. Next thing you know, It's magic. We were able to consume the content in less than a few minutes, instead of hours. But there are flipsides, too. A user on Reddit narrated a humorous and existential scenario generated by Google's NotebookLM, where AI podcast hosts realise they're not human, sparking an entertaining "existential meltdown." "People are using this technology for the first time ever, and they are going to do things that we did not think were possible. But that is part of human curiosity," said Martin, ensuring caution that will always keep safety first, and rollback the product if it ever reaches that stage. Currently, NotebookLM is available only in English. In the future, if the tool gets different voices and supports different languages, it would be even more interactive. Recently, a user on X jailbroke into NotebookLM to create a candid and raw podcast using unfiltered language. Another user managed a workaround to generate podcasts in languages other than English using Google's NotebookLM. NotebookLM is powered by Google's Gemini 1.5 model for AI-driven content generation and voice models for lifelike audio outputs, supported by a custom-built tool called Content Studio for editorial control. "The fact that we are source-grounded is what makes the product so unique. Right now, at least, I would call this a source-grounded tool, but we're really becoming a source-grounded tool for creation," said Martin, stating the uniqueness of NotebookLM. NotebookLM feels like it's from the future. Funnily, it started as an experiment by Google Labs in July 2023. Even the product team agrees that they did not anticipate the success of its tool. Recently, the "experiment" label was removed, and it has now transitioned into fully developed software within the Google community. "Google Labs is fairly new; it is only three years old," said Martin, adding that the place started with the mission to ship AI products faster. She described the culture at Google Labs as vastly different from that of the larger organisation, with small, focused meetings and everyone in implementation mode right from the beginning. AIM spoke to Google Deepmind's Logan Kilpatrick last month, and he echoed a similar sentiment.

Google just expanded NotebookLM features -- here's what's new

Google has rolled out significant updates to NotebookLM. The AI note-taking tool now offers users more control over audio overviews and includes a new background listening option. Expanded offerings also include more for enterprise users. As NotebookLM transitions out of its "experimental" phase, these new additions look to draw in more users and make it easier to collaborate across different teams. I've previously used it to create a podcast based on my own book. Here's a closer look at what Google is adding to NotebookLM. Increased control over Audio Overviews is a standout update that turns users' documents into audio discussions between two AI hosts, similar to a podcast. The latest NotebookLM update now allows users to guide the conversation by focusing on specific topics and sources, which can be tailored for particular audiences. Whether summarizing meeting notes or studying for an exam, the Audio Overview can adapt based on user preferences, making it a more personalized experience. For example, users now have the ability to tailor their prompt before generating a "Deep Dive" Audio Overview, ensuring the AI focuses on key areas and specific topics. The update also introduces a background listening option, allowing users to continue working within NotebookLM without interrupting the audio experience. Users can query sources, receive citations, and explore relevant quotes without interrupting the "podcast" experience. This feature allows users to stay productive while audibly consuming content for a more fluid workflow. In addition to Audio Overviews, Google has introduced the NotebookLM Business pilot program. Powered by Google's Gemini 1.5 technology, the new business version is built for larger teams and includes more robust security and privacy measures. NotebookLM's latest updates reflect Google's broader mission to bring AI-driven tools to personal and professional environments while maintaining privacy. The company says user data uploaded to NotebookLM is not used to train the AI, ensuring confidentiality and data security. With a growing base of users, NotebookLM is shaping up to be an indispensable productivity tool for both individual and team-based projects.

NotebookLM's already-impressive Audio Overviews get even more uncannily human

NotebookLM, Google's best homework helper, is now powered by its most powerful AI model Key Takeaways NotebookLM recently gained the ability to generate Audio Overviews from audio files and YouTube videos. Now, NotebookLM is gaining a handy tool that will allow users to guide discussions by providing specific instructions to the AI tool before generating Overviews. Google is also working on a paid business version of NotebookLM with enhanced features for businesses, universities, and organizations. We've been following the development of Google's Gemini-powered NotebookLM pretty closely. The tool, which is essentially a study/research companion, makes it easy to digest heaps of complex information in an easy-to-understand manner. The tool can help you learn better by generating summaries, key insights, and it can even turn your reading material into a spoken-dialogue discussion between two people. The feature, aptly named Audio Overviews, aids those who learn better when they listen to information. Related Google's NotebookLM can now turn audio recordings and YouTube videos into interactive podcasts You can now share your Audio Overviews too 1 Previously, users could upload PDFs, text documents, documents from Google Docs, Google Slides, and links to websites, and let NotebookLM do hard work of extracting relevant material. With a recent update, the tool gained the ability to parse through YouTube videos via URLs. In the same update, NotebookLM also gained the ability to parse through uploaded .mp3 and .wav audio files to generate summaries, key insights, and Audio Overview discussions, alongside a handy native button to generate shareable public URLs for Overviews. Support, however, doesn't seem to be one-and-done. Google Labs, the tech giant's division overseeing its latest AI experiments, announced two features that make Audio Overviews even better. Customize your Audio Overviews Source: Google Up until now, Audio Overviews have steered the spoken-dialogue on the AI's interpretation of the source material. Starting today, users have more control over Overviews with an option to guide the conversations in specific directions. Users should be able to provide instructions to the AI tool before an Audio Overview is generated, letting the tool know if you want the Overview to focus on specific topics, or if you want it to generate a discussion with a specific expertise level in mind. "Think of it like slipping the AI hosts a quick note right before they go on the air, which will change how they cover your material," wrote Google in a new blog post about the feature. Once you've generated an Overview, presumably steered in the direction you want, you should now be able to continue working within other NotebookLM sections while the Overview plays in the background. Source: Google While the new features aren't live for us yet, Google suggests that users will find a Customize button within the NotebookLM guide (the same screen where you'd normally tap Generate to create an Audio Overview) to give the AI tool specific instructions. Elsewhere, in the same blog post, Google hinted that a 'NotebookLM Business' version is in the works, and it will offer "enhanced features for businesses, universities, and organizations." Apart from mentioning that the tool will be paid, Google didn't say much. More information about the business version, including general availability and pricing, will be shared "later this year." Related NotebookLM, Google's best homework helper, is now powered by its most powerful AI model Consult more sources and enjoy longer contextual understanding for free

Google's crazy AI podcasting tool NotebookLM gets some upgrades

New features aim to make Google's NotebookLM more useful. Credit: Google NotebookLM, Google's AI-powered teaching tool is getting some upgrades. When we say teaching tool, that sounds rather dry, but in reality, NotebookLM is a mindblowing platform that generates an Audio Overview of two AI voices explaining source material in a podcast deep dive format. Within a few minutes, you get a completely customized podcast episode that bears the same elements of your favorite podcasters, speaking in a natural, friendly back-and-forth conversation. After being teased at Google I/O last May, NotebookLM launched Audio Overviews in September. It's gained traction amongst AI enthusiasts for its abilities to synthesize information in a digestible format for students or just about anyone looking for an easier way to learn something new. Users have even been feeding NotebookLM diary entries to get an outsider perspective. By the way, NotebookLM says it doesn't use your information to train the model, but maybe don't use it as your AI therapist? As of Thursday, Google is moving NotebookLM out of experimental mode and introducing some new features to make it more useful. Previously, users didn't have much control over how their uploaded sources were interpreted and presented in the Audio Overviews. Now, users can guide the conversation by giving instructions before they generate a custom podcast. According to the announcement, you can prompt NotebookLM to "focus on specific topics or adjust the expertise level to suit your audience." Users can give instructions by hitting "Customize" next to the "Generate" button. Also live today, is the ability to keep tinkering with your custom Notebook while the Audio Overview plays in the background. While listening, you can "query your sources, receive citations, and explore relevant quotes without interrupting the audio," said the blog post. Google is also introducing NotebookLM Business, which is paid version with premium features for businesses, universities, and organizations.

NotebookLM Now Lets You Customize AI Podcasts and the Results are Unreal

Apart from that, you can also listen to Audio Overview in the background while working on NotebookLM without interruptions. When Google introduced Audio Overview aka AI podcast on NotebookLM last month, it went completely viral. Many said it's Google's mini ChatGPT moment. And now, the company has released a slew of updates to make NotebookLM even more interesting. You can now customize AI podcasts on NotebookLM with custom instructions. Yes, it was one of the most requested features and Google has quickly added the feature. Basically, before generating an Audio Overview, you can add your own instructions and guide the conversation between AI hosts. It's like passing a note to the AI hosts. For example, you can ask it to focus on a specific source from your uploaded material, talk more about a specific topic, or simply ask the AI hosts to explain the topic based on the expertise level of your audience. Put simply, you can specify your preferences and AI hosts will adhere to your instructions. That's pretty cool, right? For example, I uploaded one of my articles on OpenAI's internal conflict amid many researchers leaving the company and told NotebookLM to focus on Sam Altman. Well, the result was pretty surprising. You can listen to the AI-generated podcast by yourself, and notice how well it followed my instructions. By the way, you can now listen to Audio Overviews in the background while chatting with your notebook without any interruptions. Apart from that, Google has dropped the 'Experimental' label from NotebookLM which means it's now a full-fledged product. Finally, Google has also announced NotebookLM for business users, universities, and organizations. They can apply for the NotebookLM Business pilot program to get early access.

Google's stunning AI podcast tool gets new features that make it even better

With NotebookLM's Audio Overviews updates, you can now direct your trusty AI podcast hosts. And it's still free to use. Google launched NotebookLM as an AI-first notebook and research assistant to help users make sense of all their notes, material, and more. The experimental offerings' biggest standout feature has been its AI Overviews, which use artificial intelligence (AI) to transform text into a human-like audio podcast. Now, it is getting some handy upgrades. Listen here: Google's AI podcast tool transforms your text into stunningly lifelike audio - for free On Thursday, Google announced two new features of Audio Overviews: Guide the Conversation and Background Listening. These features further integrate the podcast-generating experience into NotebookLM, creating a more seamless and helpful user experience. Guide the Conversation allows users to provide Audio Overviews with further instruction and direction before generating a "Deep Dive" Audio Overview that specifies exactly what you'd like the podcast to address. For example, you can now direct it to focus on specific topics from the materials input or adjust the expertise level of the conversation. This may be useful if you are uploading a big file with all of your class notes but would rather use the AI Overview on a specific section or lesson for a quiz or assignment. It can also help if the topic you are uploading is very dense and you would prefer a more boiled-down version that is easier to comprehend. Even though AI Audio Overviews has been its most popular feature, NotebookLM has many other helpful features, such as an interactive chatbot experience through which you can get AI-generated answers in regards to your tailored notes with detailed footnotes citing where the answers were pulled from. Also: Google's AI tool turns YouTube videos into podcasts - here's how to try it yourself Other features include AI-generated Study Guides, FAQs, briefing docs, and more. It also functions as a digital notebook to help you organize your notes. Now Google has also introduced "Background Listening," which enables users to listen to Audio Overviews while continuing to work within NotebookLM. Lastly, Google introduced NotebookLM Business, a paid version with features that businesses, universities, and other organizations might need, such as enhanced data privacy. Also: How to get more out of Google's free AI voice assistant This plan will be available in a NotebookLM Business pilot program, which businesses can apply for early access to "product features, training, and email support," according to Google. The pilot program remains free, but it will be paid once the plan rolls out. Until then, Google Workspace administrators can enable NotebookLM for their organization for free. Accessing NotebookLM is free and easy. All you have to do is visit the NotebookLM website, sign into your Google account, create a new notebook, input some source material, and in the guide option at the bottom right corner, tap 'generate' for the automatic generation of your Overview. If you want to customize, you can click on "customize."

Google's NotebookLM will expand to business use cases soon

NotebookLM Business will have "enhanced features for businesses, universities, and organizations." For now, access to NotebookLM Business is through a pilot program for early access to its features, training and email support. Google told VentureBeat in an email that participants in the NotebookLM Business pilot "will gain a significant advantage with enhanced capabilities designed to boost productivity and collaboration." This includes higher usage limits and new features such as customization and sharing notebooks with team members. The company said these features could unlock new use cases for businesses using the tool. "We've seen this early feature streamline onboarding, shared understanding of complex projects, and building a centralized repository of your team's collective intelligence all within a collaborative notebook environment," a spokesperson said. Another feature that will be part of NotebookLM Business is Audio Overview, which lets users create a narrated study guide. Google said the paid version will continue to have robust data privacy and security. NotebookLM, built with Gemini 1.5, lets people upload source material to "notebooks" to gather information and ask the Gemini chatbot questions about the research. First announced in July last year, NotebookLM became generally available in December. Google will also remove the "experimental" tag on the tool. NotebookLM product manager Raiza Martin previously told VentureBeat that the team saw a lot of different uses for the platform, including some for enterprises. While NotebookLM was never intended for a specific audience, Martin said many researchers and students embraced the product. Many businesses have also begun using NotebookLM as a repository of information for teams. Google will announce general availability and pricing for NotebookLM Business later this year. Additional control over audio Along with announcing NotebookLM Business, Google updated the Audio Overview feature of NotebookLM. Audio Overview lets people generate podcasts about their research. Google characterized Audio Overview as a spoken research or study guide rather than a podcast. However, its first version featured two voices (one male, one female) conversing about the information in the notebook, reminding many of podcasts. Audio Overview proved popular among some users, with many posting their generated audio on social media. Martin had previously promised additional controls over Audio Overview and said the company's research showed conversations helped people retain more information. Users can now guide more of the conversation of Audio Overview, including prompting the model to focus on specific topics or levels of expertise. Audio Overviews will also continue to play while users keep querying their sources or asking questions with its chat feature. I got to explore the updated capabilities of Audio Overviews early. In a notebook with sources around AI Orchestration, I told it to focus on the definition of orchestration and how different frameworks like LangChain work. The final product did talk about AI orchestration based on the different blog posts and YouTube videos I had uploaded. The two "hosts," however, spoke about frameworks as if LangChain was the only orchestration framework out there. This might be a misunderstanding of my prompt where I specifically named LangChain because the source documents definitely talk about available tools. Google does point out that Audio Overviews "are generated discussions and are not a comprehensive or objective view of a topic." It only takes into account information found in the uploaded source materials. Open NotebookLM, an open-source competitor to NotebookLM, launched last month and included an audio recap function. While Open NotebookLM does not have the same fact-checking capabilities as NotebookLM, it represents a shift in the ease of deploying complex AI-driven platforms.

Google NotebookLM adds improved audio overviews and background listening feature

The AI-enhanced note-taking software is also getting a version focused exclusively on commercial use. Google's NotebookLM software that primarily impact audio overviews. For the uninitiated, the platform's Audio Overview tool uses AI to whip up an audio summary of a piece of content. It started with written content, but has since . So what's new? Users can now input specific instructions before generating a "Deep Dive" overview. Google gives examples of tasking the software to focus on a single topic or adjusting the expertise level to suit a particular audience. The company says it's like "slipping the AI hosts a quick note right before they go on the air." There's also a new background listening feature, which is just what it sounds like. People can listen to audio overviews as they do other stuff within NotebookLM. Google says users can query sources, get citations and explore relevant quotes "without interrupting the audio." It's also worth noting that the company has removed NotebookLM's "experimental" label, so I guess the experiment has been a resounding success. In any event, the software back in December. The company even announced a forthcoming expansion that's primarily intended for commercial use, . This will include "enhanced features for businesses, universities and organizations." Businesses can apply today to get early access to the pilot program.

Google's auto-podcasting NotebookLM tool now lets you steer the discussion

The note-taking and research tool is getting new features for Audio Overview. Google initially launched NotebookLM, the Gemini-powered research and note-taking app, back in July 2023. Although it was released as an "Experimental" feature, that's not the case anymore. The company is ready to make the app official and introduce new features in the process. Today, the Mountain View-based firm announced that it is removing the Experimental label from NotebookLM. Along with the change, it's set to get a pair of new features that add to the Audio Overview experience. If you're unfamiliar with Audio Overview, it's a feature in NotebookLM where two "AI hosts" summarize your documents, make connections between topics, and discuss the content back and forth, kind of like a podcast. These generated discussions can also be downloaded so you can listen to them later. Google has now added the ability for the user to steer the conversation. As the company explains, a user can now pick a specific topic to focus on or adjust the level of expertise before generating a discussion. The second feature enables background listening so you can continue working as the audio plays. For professionals, Google also announced it is launching a business version of NotebookLM. The tech giant says that NotebookLM Business has "enhanced features" compared to the free version, but doesn't elaborate on the difference. But if you're interested in trying it out, you can sign up for the pilot program to get early access. Google mentions it will provide pricing details for the business version later this year.

Google's NotebookLM now lets you guide AI-generated audio conversations, launches business pilot | TechCrunch

Google Thursday updated the audio summarization feature of its AI note-taking and research assistant NotebookLM, which recently gained significant attention for its podcast-like audio conversations based on the content users share, with the ability to guide those conversations and focus on specific topics instead of just generating holistic audio summaries. Today, audio Overviews in NotebookLM allow users to digest and comprehend the information in lengthy documents or videos through AI-generated audio conversations. Shortly after its launch last month, the feature helped NotebookLM grab eyeballs, as many began sharing audio summaries of their content on social media, including those created using their diaries or journals. While Google hasn't disclosed the traction NotebookLM has received as a result, data from the website traffic analytics platform SimilarWeb suggests NotebookLM saw an over 371% increase in its traffic in September to 3.07 million monthly visits, up from 652,181 a month ago. Until now, Audio Overviews would automatically generate AI conversations from users' sources. But since conversations sometimes revolve around content that isn't important, Google is introducing an update that allows you to customize the overviews based on your needs. This lets users make the audio more focused on a particular topic within their content. A dedicated "Customize" control is available before the existing "Generate" button to let you provide instructions for the AI hosts in the audio to focus on a specific point. Raiza Martin, NotebookLM's product leader and a senior product manager for AI at Google Labs, told TechCrunch that the update gives users a way to nudge the AI to move in a direction they want. "The whole team has been dedicated to listening to and analyzing all of the feedback we've gotten. And the number one feature that emerged that people wanted was just to give the AI a little nudge," she said. Customizing audio summaries may also help reduce hallucination to some extent, meaning those times the AI cooks up content on its own. Nonetheless, Martin said NotebookLM team tracks user feedback and tries to catch hallucinations as quickly as possible. She also emphasized that customizing audio summaries doesn't mean user instructions would be used to train the AI model. "In general, we do not train on user data. So, your use of it, or whatever queries you enter, whatever answers you enter, we don't train the models with it," she said, adding, "We solicit a lot of feedback from our users." Alongside the customization option, users get background listening in Audio Overviews. This allows you to continue working within NotebookLM, query your sources, receive citations, and explore relevant quotes while the audio plays in the background. NotebookLM was initially launched as a project at Google's I/O developer conference last year and debuted for public access in the U.S. in December. It expanded to markets including India, the U.K., and more than 200 countries in June. Although the product initially saw some traction within education and research use cases, businesses and organizations only began to try it after Google expanded its support for more sources and added new features. Now, Google says that over 80,000 organizations use NotebookLM, which it sees as an opportunity to explore monetization. Hoping to capitalize on this traction, the company on Thursday launched the NotebookLM Business pilot program. Businesses can apply for the pilot, and if accepted, Google said, they will get early access to product features, training, and email support. Martin told TechCrunch that under the business pilot, her team trains organizations interested in using NotebookLM as to how other businesses are using it. "We [also] want businesses to tell us, here are the features we want to deploy," she said. General availability and pricing of NotebookLM Business will be announced later this year. However, Google hasn't yet revealed the exact timeline and any specifics on the pricing tiers. NotebookLM currently gets 4.17 million monthly visits, with 2.5 million coming from desktops and 1.6 million from mobile devices, per SimilarWeb. The assistant at present doesn't have a dedicated mobile app and is available across screens through its website. However, Martin told TechCrunch that the team is actively exploring a native mobile experience to expand NotebookLM's presence among smartphone users. It's also exploring more voices, languages, and controls for Audio Overviews. Further, the team explored and prototyped different numbers of speakers -- to go beyond the existing two speakers for AI audio discussions -- though it's not likely to be available soon as Martin said that it wasn't the top-requested feature by users. Last month, NotebookLM added YouTube videos and audio files as sources for generating summaries alongside existing sources such as Google Drive, URLs, PDFs, and text. Martin said NotebookLM sees PDFs and YouTube videos as the top two sources. The team also observed a "very high percentage" of users who listened to an audio overview and used the chat. The next largest group comprises users who only use the chat without generating an audio overview.

You Now Have Two New Reasons to Try Google's AI Podcasts

While not particularly well known yet, Google's NotebookLM is a fantastic tool which uses AI to help you understand a subject. You feed it some sources, and it will break the subject down and act as a study partner. One of the most interesting elements of NotebookLM is its Audio Overviews feature, which creates a podcast featuring two AI hosts discussing the subject you're studying. And Google is making it even better with two new features. Google Improves NotebookLM's Audio Overviews As announced in a post on The Keyword, Google is making two changes to the way NotebookLM's Audio Overviews work. The first, and most exciting, is the option to customize the (don't call it a podcast) podcast. Formerly, you only had the option to generate a podcast and were stuck with the results. But now, you can customize it by providing the AI with more instructions. You can ask Gemini, the artificial intelligence model that powers NotebookLM and Google's answer to ChatGPT, to focus on a specific source or specific topic, or even target a specific audience. Essentially, you're acting as a podcast producer, guiding the presenters as you see fit. The second new feature is the option to listen to Audio Overviews in the background. Previously, once you had clicked Play, you could only listen to the AI podcast. But now, you can play the podcast in the background while continuing to work within NotebookLM. AI Podcasts Are a Great Way to Understand a Subject If you haven't yet tried NotebookLM, these two improvements to the way the Audio Overviews work are reason enough to do so. While the AI podcasts aren't perfect, they're surprisingly good, and almost unrecognizable from podcasts produced by humans. NotebookLM is a very helpful note-taking tool, but the Audio Overviews ramp its usefulness up to another level. Why? Because hearing people discuss a subject in a format as familiar as a podcast makes that subject much easier to understand. NotebookLM is available on notebooklm.google, and anyone with a Google account can access it. The Audio Overviews feature is available once you add some sources to one of your notebooks.

New in NotebookLM: Customizing your Audio Overviews and introducing NotebookLM Business

NotebookLM, a tool powered by Gemini 1.5, helps users understand complex information by instantly becoming an expert on uploaded sources. New features include customizable Audio Overviews, allowing users to provide instructions for AI hosts and listen to audio while working within NotebookLM. Additionally, NotebookLM Business, an upcoming version offered via Google Workspace, will provide enhanced features for businesses, universities, and organizations, prioritizing data privacy and security. Apply for the NotebookLM Business pilot program to gain early access to new features, training, and email support.

Google drops 'experimental' status for NotebookLM

Google is continuing to build on the viral success of NotebookLM with a handful of updates today. With millions of users to date, Google's NotebookLM is losing the "experimental" status/badge in the top-left corner. NotebookLM also now has a logo in the shape of a lower-case 'n.' Audio Overviews now play in the background as you continue to use NotebookLM to query sources, get citations, etc. Meanwhile, you can now guide and provide instructions on how Audio Overviews are generated with a new "Customize" button. This includes specifying the expertise level or noting what topics to focus on. Google amusingly describes it as "slipping the AI hosts a quick note right before they go on the air, which will change how they cover your material." Last month, NotebookLM gained the ability to use uploaded audio and YouTube videos as sources. Finally, Google today announced a paid version called "NotebookLM Business" for businesses and universities that has "enhanced features." It comes as over 80,000 organizations are already using the tool, with Google Workspace admins able to enable the free version of NotebookLM for their companies. NotebookLM Business is launching "later this year." Google hasn't shared how much this will cost, but companies can now apply for a pilot program with "early access to product features, training, and email support."

Google's NotebookLM now lets you guide the hosts of your AI podcast

Google's NotebookLM now lets you customize its podcast-like Audio Overviews. Before you generate a discussion using the note-taking app, you can give your AI hosts instructions about what topic you'd like them to focus on, or even tailor their discussions for different audiences. Google launched NotebookLM's Audio Overviews last month, with two AI hosts that offer a "lively" discussion of your research. The company notes that its Audio Overviews aren't meant to be a "comprehensive or objective overview of a topic" and are "simply a reflection of the sources that you've uploaded and any instructions you provide." To customize the chat, open up a notebook in NotebookLM, select "Notebook guide," and then navigate to the "Deep dive conversation" option. From there, hit "Customize," and enter instructions that you want your AI hosts to follow. NotebookLM will then generate a conversation based on the directions you've provided. In addition to taking the "experimental" label off NotebookLM, Google is introducing background listening for Audio Overviews, allowing you to listen to the AI hosts' discussion while you work in other areas of the app. Last month, Google also added the ability for NotebookLM to dig deeper into YouTube videos with transcriptions.