Some folks learn by reading. Others do better by writing things down. But what if your learning is done by listening to two people you’ve never met talk about a subject? Then a new feature of Google‘s NotebookLM is for you.
Called Audio Overview, it takes the documents you feed it and turns them into a, for lack of a better word, podcast that you can listen to. No more bullet points or reading or any of that hard stuff. Just let that sweet, sweet AI bump information into your head verbally.
A new NotebookLM
Don’t believe us? We wouldn’t either but that’s what Google says.
“With one click, two AI hosts start up a lively “deep dive” discussion based on your sources. They summarize your material, make connections between topics, and banter back and forth. You can even download the conversation and take it on the go.”
Custom podcasts on any subject you care to name, facilitated by your own sources? That’s either a brilliant idea since it can be as detailed as you want it to be, or it’s an awful one. Some people suck at research and might wind up brain-dumping several hours of incorrect or biased information. If you only feed NotebookLM’s Audio Overview the point of view of the Flat Earth Society, you’re not going to get very useful information out of it.
That is something Google is aware of, pointing out that “generated discussions are not a comprehensive or objective view of a topic, but simply a reflection of the sources that you’ve uploaded.” There are other issues. Sometimes NotebookLM’s Audio Overview introduces inaccuracies, sometimes it takes ages to generate an audio presentation, and users can’t break into the conversation and shut them up. Yet. Still, it sounds pretty cool.