The right way to get began with Google’s NotebookLM
You may know Steven Johnson as an creator. He’s written a lot of books, many centered 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 group from the start of the venture 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 to be able to glean extra from it. It’s designed for that “deeper dive” you could have to take into a subject — or a number of subjects without delay.
With NotebookLM, you create particular person notebooks devoted to a subject or venture. 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 concerning the content material or ask NotebookLM to format it in a selected method — it can even present citations that hyperlink again to essentially the most related unique passages in your sources. And alongside the best way, your non-public info isn’t shared or used to coach the mannequin.
When you’re simply getting began, strive these eight ideas from Steven to get essentially 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 a good way to check run what NotebookLM can do. Whether or not you realize the fabric within the paperwork all the way down to the letter, or it’s all fairly new to you, NotebookLM will assist you to uncover some attention-grabbing insights.
2. Create one fundamental pocket book after which determine topic-based notebooks from there
Steven suggests holding what he calls an “all the pieces pocket book,” which you load up with sources that embody the overall information you’re employed with most days. The sources could 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 through the years. “I do lots of open-ended pondering and exploring of concepts in my ‘all the pieces’ pocket book,” Steven says. Nevertheless it’s equally necessary to create topic- or project-based notebooks as nicely. “I’ve obtained a pocket book devoted solely to the work we do constructing NotebookLM,” Steven explains. “It’s obtained all of the press releases, new function descriptions and necessary inside docs we write as a group.” By holding all these associated sources in a single pocket book, Steven successfully has a customized AI that’s nearly like having one other member of the group. “I can go in there and kind one thing like, ‘Draft the define of a weblog submit 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 completely different supplies
NotebookLM is extraordinarily helpful for conditions the place you’ll 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 straightforward to comply with. Steven affords 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 pictures 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 all the pieces in a single place whenever you get to the stage of constructing your presentation in Google Slides.
4. Begin with the urged questions
When you’ve added content material to NotebookLM, it’s time to begin asking questions — which could depart you stumped. Equally to tips we shared about using the Gemini-powered side panel in Workspace instruments, Steven says NotebookLM’s urged questions are an incredible useful resource. “The mannequin will truly assist you to ask questions that information you thru the fabric for some time till you consider one thing you need to ask,” he explains. You could find some starter questions within the “Pocket book Information” that seems after you add your first sources. Plus, whenever 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 numerous 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 otherwise, and even simply prefers to see info introduced in numerous 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.” Attempt completely different choices each to see what works greatest in your personal studying functions in addition to for presenting info to others.
6. Don’t shrink back from inventive makes use of
NotebookLM is an incredible useful resource for work and faculty initiatives (the group truly simply launched a pilot program for NotebookLM Enterprise for collaborating inside a office). Nevertheless it’s additionally an incredible software for plenty of inventive 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 complex backstories,” Steven says. Possibly in your screenplay, you jotted down some notes in a doc, saved varied webpages and took pictures 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 take care of that one character?’ Or ‘Remind me which characters reside the place?’”
Steven significantly likes that you could ask NotebookLM for inventive enter with questions like, “Which characters do you assume are most compelling?” or, “What are your favourite elements?” “It’s like having the ability to management F for ‘interestingness’!” he says.
7. Flip your sources into Audio Overviews
It is best to undoubtedly 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, sort of mind-blowing audio dialog about no matter you uploaded!” Steven says. And the group has simply released a new feature in Audio Overviews that means that you can modify 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 concentrate on out of your sources. “You can too 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 present me constructive criticism about my work.”
