You would possibly know Steven Johnson as an writer. He’s written quite a lot of books, many targeted on the science of how we expect and the historical past of innovation. However he’s additionally a Googler who has labored on the NotebookLM staff from the start of the undertaking two years in the past. “Merely put, NotebookLM is a software for understanding issues,” Steven says. Consider it as your digital note-taking and analysis assistant: NotebookLM takes info, digests and analyzes it so to glean extra from it. It’s designed for that “deeper dive” it’s possible you’ll have to take into a subject — or a number of matters without delay.
With NotebookLM, you create particular person notebooks devoted to a subject or undertaking. You possibly can add as much as 50 “sources” with as much as 25 million phrases — all from issues like PDFs, Google Docs, web sites and YouTube movies. Then, NotebookLM makes use of Gemini 1.5’s multimodal capabilities to evaluate and make connections between the sources you’ve added. You possibly can ask questions in regards to the content material or ask NotebookLM to format it in a selected method — it can even present citations that hyperlink again to probably the most related authentic passages in your sources. And alongside the best way, your non-public info isn’t shared or used to coach the mannequin.
If you happen to’re simply getting began, strive these eight suggestions from Steven to get probably the most out of NotebookLM.
1. Experiment together with your current paperwork — even when they’re random
One of many first issues Steven suggests new NotebookLM customers do is add their 10 most up-to-date paperwork into one pocket book and begin experimenting by asking questions. Even when your most up-to-date paperwork are unrelated and completely random, it’s an effective way to check run what NotebookLM can do. Whether or not you understand the fabric within the paperwork right down to the letter, or it’s all fairly new to you, NotebookLM will enable you uncover some attention-grabbing insights.
2. Create one foremost pocket book after which determine topic-based notebooks from there
Steven suggests conserving what he calls an “every thing pocket book,” which you load up with sources that embrace the overall information you’re employed with most days. The sources is likely to be inspirational quotes from books you learn, or the core paperwork that describe the corporate you’re employed for, or all of your brainstorming concepts that you just’ve captured over time. “I do loads of open-ended considering and exploring of concepts in my ‘every thing’ pocket book,” Steven says. Nevertheless it’s equally essential to create topic- or project-based notebooks as effectively. “I’ve obtained a pocket book devoted completely to the work we do constructing NotebookLM,” Steven explains. “It’s obtained all of the press releases, new function descriptions and essential inner docs we write as a staff.” By conserving all these associated sources in a single pocket book, Steven successfully has a customized AI that’s virtually like having one other member of the staff. “I can go in there and kind one thing like, ‘Draft the define of a weblog publish for that function we had been discussing final week,’ and Pocket book is aware of precisely what to do.”
3. Use NotebookLM to attach the dots from totally different supplies
NotebookLM is extraordinarily helpful for conditions the place you might want to handle, join and synthesize info from a number of sources. “All of us have this downside the place we’re engaged on one thing, and the data we’d like is scattered throughout desktop folders, tabs and wherever else,” Steven says. That is what NotebookLM is made for, he explains: connecting all these scattered dots.
It may be particularly useful as a subsequent step after utilizing Gemini and Gems. After you brainstorm or produce other open-ended conversations in these instruments, NotebookLM can take the outcomes and switch them into one thing simple to observe. Steven provides the instance of engaged on a slide deck. Possibly you begin the method by brainstorming with Gemini, which leads you to open just a few tabs of articles, avoid wasting design inspo photos and put some notes in a Google doc. You possibly can then feed all of that into NotebookLM, which is able to synthesize the data into an easy-to-digest format so you may reference every thing in a single place if you get to the stage of constructing your presentation in Google Slides.
4. Begin with the advised questions
When you’ve added content material to NotebookLM, it’s time to start out asking questions — which could depart you stumped. Equally to suggestions we shared about utilizing the Gemini-powered aspect panel in Workspace instruments, Steven says NotebookLM’s advised questions are an awesome useful resource. “The mannequin will truly enable you ask questions that information you thru the fabric for some time till you consider one thing you need to ask,” he explains. You will discover some starter questions within the “Pocket book Information” that seems after you add your first sources. Plus, if you begin asking questions, NotebookLM will counsel follow-up queries, too, based mostly on what you’ve already requested and what you uploaded.
5. Ask NotebookLM to ship information in several methods
One thing that got here out of early testing, Steven says, was the necessity for NotebookLM to point out info in varied codecs. “Everybody processes info in another way, and even simply prefers to see info offered in several methods,” he explains. Utilizing the Pocket book Information function, NotebookLM can flip your uploaded content material into an FAQ, a briefing doc, a timeline, a desk of contents, a research information — or the favored new Audio Overview, which truly transforms your info into an enticing dialog between two AI “hosts.” Strive totally different choices each to see what works greatest to your personal studying functions in addition to for presenting info to others.
6. Don’t draw back from artistic makes use of
NotebookLM is a tremendous useful resource for work and faculty tasks (the staff truly simply launched a pilot program for NotebookLM Enterprise for collaborating inside a office). Nevertheless it’s additionally an awesome software for plenty of artistic makes use of exterior the workplace or classroom. “We’re seeing lots of people utilizing it for help with writing fantasy and sci-fi novels or growing video games the place they’re engaged on world constructing and complicated backstories,” Steven says. Possibly to your screenplay, you jotted down some notes in a doc, saved varied webpages and took photographs and movies as inspiration. “There’s all of this info that may be onerous to maintain straight,” Steven says. “You possibly can put all of that stuff right into a single pocket book and ask issues like, ‘What was the cope with that one character?’ Or ‘Remind me which characters stay the place?’”
Steven significantly likes which you can ask NotebookLM for artistic enter with questions like, “Which characters do you assume are most compelling?” or, “What are your favourite components?” “It’s like with the ability to management F for ‘interestingness’!” he says.
7. Flip your sources into Audio Overviews
It is best to positively flip every of these 10 paperwork you begin with, or no matter else you add, into an Audio Overview, Steven says. “After ready a couple of minutes for it to generate, you’ll have a really entertaining, type of mind-blowing audio dialog about no matter you uploaded!” Steven says. And the staff has simply launched a brand new function in Audio Overviews that means that you can alter the format of the dialog. Simply hit “Customise” within the Audio Overviews panel and enter a brief description of what you need the hosts to deal with out of your sources. “You may also steer them when it comes to the strategy of the extent of sophistication you need from the Overview,” Steven explains. “I’ve been importing my very own writing and asking them to offer me constructive criticism about my work.”
