SparkNotes, CliffsNotes, WestLaw, and For Dummies have had their time, but when it comes to research in this day and age, people are beginning to turn to generative artificial intelligence for help, and the results can be unimpressive, to say the least. Google wants to turn that reputation around with a new app centered around a note-taking language model called NotebookLM. So, how does it work, and can you use it? We’ve got some answers for you to chew on.
What’s NotebookLM, and how does it work?
NotebookLM, formerly known as Project Tailwind, was one of a few AI tools Google introduced at its I/O conference in 2023 (via XDA-Developers). Interested users could hop on a waitlist on a then-new Google Labs webpage for each feature, including Tailwind.
We’re talking about a ChatGPT-like or even Google’s generative search engine but without the Internet. The company describes NotebookLM as an app centered on a language model that can work with your Google Drive account documents to summarize major concepts and key details. It generates automatic summaries and query responses working only with the documents you give it – items like text files and PDFs – and not the web.
Anything you can ask one of those popular chatbots for, you can ask NotebookLM, but in a focused context and with better note-taking functions. One of those functions? Quote-level citations for each response – particularly useful when you’re combing across many sources and, oddly enough, something that Google’s generative search experiment fails at constantly.
How will NotebookLM use my data?
Obviously, you will need to agree to a number of terms and conditions, but Google says it won’t use or share any data it may collect from your NotebookLM interactions to train new AI models or so that other users may see them.
That said, user data may go towards tweaking NotebookLM in its existing form. You’re also encouraged to provide feedback directly to Google.
Can I use NotebookLM?
The answer is that you probably can’t… at least for now. Google announced the rollout of NotebookLM in a post from 12 July on its corporate blog – presumably, those early birds that got on the waitlist have gotten on board.
The company still has a waitlist set up here for people to try it out. A handful of signees from the United States will get first dibs, and they will likely keep those dibs for a few months at least.
Microsoft has leveraged generative AI to give its Office productivity suite an extra edge. The company brought out Microsoft 365 Copilot in May 2023 as a wizard that, in addition to sweating the typical details, can help users take Word documents and turn them into pivot tables and charts on Excel, bullet-pointed slides on PowerPoint, and a data-enriched presentation on Teams.
Google has been making smart strides with its own productivity services (whether you call them Workspace or Drive apps or something else depends on where you’re coming from) with features like Smart Chips and collaborative editing views. It would definitely make sense for Mountain View to widen its offense and go for a robust solution that can work across its entire portfolio.
That said, it’s still baby steps from this point on. Those steps aren’t just with NotebookLM, but in the other tools coming out of I/O including Magic Compose for texting and MusicLM for turning text prompts into melodies and beats. Google is generally seen to be slightly behind the ball against Microsoft on generative AI, so it has its work cut out for it.
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