Google’s NotebookLM Turns Documents into … a Podcast?

TLDR

• Google’s NotebookLM rolls out its latest capability: It can turn a document or other content into a two-person podcast.
• The podcast discusses highlights of the content, so you listen to a summary of the report instead of reading it.
• The new feature extends the AI research assistant capabilities of NotebookLM, which can summarize documents, answer questions about it and even brainstorm ideas.

In the flurry of AI tools bombarding consumers, one helpful AI assistant is often overlooked: Google’s NotebookLM.

Introduced in June 2023, NotebookLM acts as your smart research assistant. Upload any document or other content, and NotebookLM can summarize it for you, answer questions about it, and brainstorm with you. In June, NotebookLM expanded to 200 countries and territories and added the ability to look at images, courtesy of the multimodal abilities of its underlying large language model, Gemini 1.5 Pro.

Now, it adds a jaw-dropping new feature: the ability to create a realistic-sounding podcast from documents, slides, charts or other input sources. Two ‘people’ will be in conversation, and they even kid around, just like what you’d hear in a podcast.

Called Audio Overview, this new feature lets you listen to your document by eavesdropping on two AI personas talking about it. I took it for a spin, and it did pretty well – if you just want the highlights. For more detailed information, it is still better to read the document.

This is what I uploaded: the 188-page Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2025.

After six minutes of processing, this is what came out:

Here’s a transcript of the first few minutes:

Speaker 1: All right, let’s dive into something that, well, let’s be honest, often feels about as exciting as a tax audit – the federal budget.

Speaker 2: And just like a tax audit, unpacking the federal budget can actually uncover a treasure trove of insights – if you know where to look.

Speaker 1: Exactly. We’ve got excerpts here from the proposed FY 2025 budget, and well, people don’t just casually hand you a stack of budget documents, unless they really want to understand what’s going on.

Speaker 2: Right. Think of it this way. Every budget tells a story. It’s a roadmap for where the administration wants to steer the ship.

Speaker 1: Okay, I like that. So we’re setting sail today. Where are we headed with the FY 2025 budget?

Speaker 2: Today, we’re going to read between the lines of the FY 2025 budget and see if its rhetoric matches its reality.

Speaker 1: Love it. So right off the bat, this phrase jumps out: ‘Building the economy from the middle out and bottom up.’ It’s like the budget’s tagline. But what does it actually mean when we look at the spending?

Speaker 2: Well, one of the key areas where we see this idea reflected is health care. There’s a huge emphasis on affordability, particularly for seniors.

Speaker 1: Makes sense. Health care costs are a major concern.

Speaker 2: Absolutely. The budget proposes capping insulin at $35 per month for seniors.

Speaker 1: Wow, $35! That’s a significant drop from what was it? Like $400?

Speaker 2: Exactly. A significant drop. It’s a move with the potential to really disrupt the pharmaceutical industry and bring down costs for millions. Of course, Big Pharma won’t be thrilled about this, so it would be a fascinating power struggle to watch.

How to create your own podcast

• Go to NotebookLM.
• Create a new notebook.
• Add at least one source.
• Click on ‘generate.’
• Wait. It may take more than a few minutes.