Three years ago, Google unveiled an experiment from their AI product labs known as NotebookLM, which has now become part of Google Gemini. Although many are still unfamiliar with this tool, it has the potential to significantly enhance your productivity once you grasp its capabilities and learn how to use it effectively.
an ai that only uses your sources
NotebookLM is an interface to Google AI that works by having you select the specific sources that inform your query. At its center, you interact with your notebooks through a web interface where you can ask questions about your documents. The system then responds with targeted answers and direct citations; otherwise, it lets you know if your sources lack the information to answer the question.
This framework solves one of the biggest challenges regarding the credibility of AI outputs. Because you know exactly which sources are being used, you can review the response and citations against your own understanding of the material to easily verify that the answers are accurate.
going beyond the chatbot
If you only use the chat interface you will miss out on all that NotebookLM has to offer. NotebookLM uses Google AI produce several types of multimedia content, examples include…
- Audio Overviews: These are AI generated podcasts that help you learn new things while doing other tasks that might keep your eyes and hands busy. You can customize the length, discussion format, and describe what you want the podcast to focus on.
- Videos and Short Video Overview: Mix Audio with Video.
- Mind Maps: These are visual creations that help you understand the concepts described in your sources.
- Slide Deck: NotebookLM can take your sources and turn them into a presentation to present to your team.
- Reports: NotebookLM will create a report summarizing your sources.
- Flash Cards: If you need to study with an exam, these can take all of your materials (think PowerPoints, notebooks, essays you wrote, etc., up to 300 unique sources)
- Quizzes: Let you test your understanding of the material.
- Data Tables: These help you create detailed tables that summarize the data contained within your sources.
practical uses of your notebook
NotebookLM has so many uses and listing all of them would be impossible so I’ll include a short list of things it’s been helpful for to me.
- Are you studying for an upcoming exam? Flashcards and Quizzes can help you prep and understand the gaps in understanding.
- You have all the notes and a transcript of the meeting but you’re uncertain about what someone may have meant when they said something. If they’re not available to send a quick Google Chat message to, NotebookLM might be able to put the pieces together or at the very least help you draft an email.
- Are you running behind on the required textbook readings before class? An Audio Overview can help you understand the materials enough to participate in class discussions before completing the reading at a future time.
- Do you have a recording of a phone call or a voicemail? Upload it to your notebook and ask questions about it!
Do you have another use for NotebookLM that you’d like to see listed? Send me an email!
a quick editor’s note
During the editing process of this blog post, I became aware a report posted by The Verge that NotebookLM is being rebranded by Google too Gemini Notebook.
other things to know
- A Google AI Plus or Pro plan may affect the features you have or usage limits of NotebookLM.
- NotebookLM has strict privacy requirements, your chats (and files uploaded) with Notebook:M are never used to train Google AI models.
- NotebookLM is built to work with datasets and includes coding and deep analytical tools.
- NotebookLM can include YouTube Videos as a source as well as uploaded videos, If your professor sends you a YouTube link to the lecture or sends you a video in another format it can be uploaded to your notebook. As a note, it only processes the spoken audio, it will not process the visual contents of the file.
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