Summary
- Google’s NotebookLM now allows users to interact with AI-generated podcasts’ hosts.
- Users can join podcasts, customize AI hosts’ discussions and voices, and access more features with NotebookLM Plus.
- NotebookLM may soon be directly integrated into Google Gemini on Android, expanding its accessibility and features.
The age of artificial intelligence is beginning to take a stronghold on the tech industry, and with it has come both unique tools and pointless projects. Gemini, Google’s next-gen multimodal AI assistant, was introduced to the world as a rebranded version of Google Bard almost one year ago to the day, and it has been at the forefront of the company’s focus ever since. It has certainly positioned itself to replace Google Assistant as Android’s on-board helper, and its integration into the Google Workspace has made it inescapable. You’d have to navigate to NotebookLM, however, if you want to use Audio Overviews, a relatively new all-AI podcast feature that’s pretty amazing, albeit a bit scary. Google has continued to tweak the feature, and it just added a new way to interact with AI hosts.
Related
Google’s Audio Overview transforms your meeting notes into engaging podcasts
Make everything a podcast
Today, Google announced a new tool within NotebookLM that allows users to join in on the AI-generated podcast and “talk” with the “hosts.” After generating a podcast, users can tap the Interactive Mode button and then press the “Join” button. This will then lead to the hosts calling on you, as if you had just called into a sports talk radio show. In addition, a new interface, which includes three panels, will potentially make it easier to both manage and generate content within the app. Lastly, both individuals and organizations can now pay for NotebookLM Plus, a subscription-based service that will provide five times more Audio Overviews, notebooks, and sources per notebook, additional Audio Customization options, and more security, privacy, and analytics for its users.
We live in a Cyberpunk world
We’ve been a bit disappointed with the amount of half-baked AI products Google has released this year, even if they’ve gotten better after time. However, NotebookLM was great right from the jump, and recent additions, such as the tool that allows users to dictate how topics on the podcast are discussed, show that Google will continue to improve NotebookLM. Text strings from a recent Google app beta suggest that NotebookLM will be added directly to Gemini on Android; right now, it’s only accessible through a browser.
The ability to talk with artificially-created hosts on a “fake” podcast sounds fairly dystopian, but regardless, it’s a fun tool to mess around with. It doesn’t get all of its information on a given topic correct, so it’s not so smart to use it as your main source for academic projects, but it has the potential as an entertaining way to conduct research. For NotebookLM Plus subscribers, the ability to customize the hosts’ discussions and voices will be a welcome feature, coming on top of the already stout set of conversational options already baked into the standard version. All of a sudden, podcasts seem to be a focal point of Google’s product efforts this year.
