Google has updated its AI assistant, NotebookLM, allowing the AI note-taking and research tool to find summaries of audio files and YouTube videos. First released at the Google I/O developer conference in 2023, NotebookLM even creates sharable AI-generated audio discussions and podcasts. It allows users to upload file formats including PDFs, Google Docs, Google Slides and websites. The items, including text, can be stored in shareable “notebooks,” organizing material in a central location, and users can ask Google’s Gemini AI questions about the notebook material. Initially embraced by students and educators, it has become equally popular among business users.

“People are now sharing notebooks, and it’s creating a network effect,” said Raiza Martin, a senior product manager for AI at Google Labs, in an interview with TechCrunch.

The recently added Audio Overview function “allows users to generate audio explaining information in the notebook,” explains VentureBeat. A new update lets users now share their NotebookLM-generated Audio Overview with a public URL, essentially letting them “make a podcast to explain your research.”

“To use the feature, you click on the share icon available on the Audio Overview generated in the tool to get its URL, which you can then copy and share with others,” TechCrunch notes.

Professionals have been using the feature to upload web pages, resumes, “and even their presentations on NotebookLM to generate Audio Overviews, then sharing those with their employers, colleagues, or clients,” Martin told TechCrunch.

The app also helps users more deeply explore YouTube videos, “analyzing the text in a YouTube video’s transcript, including autogenerated ones,” reports The Verge, detailing how “once you add a YouTube link to NotebookLM, it will use AI to provide a brief summary of key topics discussed in the transcript. You can then click on these topics to get more detailed information as well as ask questions.”

“NotebookLM is a tool for understanding. When you upload your sources, it instantly becomes an expert, grounding its responses in your material with citations and relevant quotes,” Google explains in a blog post. Analyzing videos and lectures — including homing in on subjects of interest without having to spend time parsing the entire file — was found in testing to be a popular use.

It can also “transform class recordings, handwritten notes and lecture slides into comprehensive study guides with a single click,” Google points out. The Google Workspace Updates blog delves deeper into the new features.