Last year, Google unveiled NotebookLM, an experimental AI notebook that combines LLMs with user notes to further your understanding of a topic by providing summaries, answering questions, and more. Now, it can even discuss your content with you.
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On Wednesday, Google launched Audio Overview in NotebookLM, a feature allowing users to discuss their notebook content in engaging, AI-driven conversations. The discussions are carried out by two AI-generated hosts who use the context of your content to explain complex topics, make analogies, and keep the dialogue going back and forth with you.
In a blog post announcing the launch, Google shared an example of the AI host discussing the content of a prior NotebookLM Keyword post. The voices are surprisingly realistic and it sounds like you're listening to a podcast where two hosts discuss a topic.
Many times, when learning a new or complex topic, all you need to do is talk it through with someone. However, finding someone readily available and well-versed in the topic can be difficult. In those instances, I can see this feature being useful.
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You can visit the NotebookLM website or Google Labs and click 'Try NotebookLM' to get started. You'll need a Google account to sign in, but the experience is free. Then, to create an Audio Overview, open an existing notebook, click on the Notebook guide, and then 'Generate' to create the Audio Overview.
Google warns that the feature is still experimental and has limitations, such as taking several minutes to generate an Audio Overview for large notebooks and sometimes saying inaccuracies. Currently, users can't interrupt the hosts, and conversations are only supported in English.