Recently, Google Labs launched NotebookLM with an audio overview feature. According to Steven Johnson, one of the creators of NotebookLM, it is a:
new AI-powered research and writing tool [that] excels at workflows that involve synthesizing information dispersed across multiple documents, which makes it a valuable tool for students, scholars, journalists, analysts, and many other “knowledge worker” professions.
I experimented with it some by first plugging in my LinkedIn profile, then sharing ten years worth of journal entries from conversations with my kids. The results are startling, jarring, and kind of amazing. Practically, it would be interesting to plug in sources for a research paper and notes one has on the paper and query the application. Could this be a research partner for students and writers? Would faculty members find it applicable?
For fun, I plugged in a few works from Project Gutenberg and one kid’s book. Take a listen to the podcast version / audio overview.
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
- Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi
How might you use NotebookLM?
