Over the weekend, the sound of the talk went popular on Reddit. The initial poster acknowledges in the feedback section that they provided the NotebookLM software’s instructions for the Artificial tones to play this pseudo-freakout. But, no consciousness, the AI machines have not become self-aware. However, many users in the digital media, on TikTok, and abroad are praising the compelling AI podcasts, generated through shared documents with the Audio Overviews feature.
Raiza Martin, who leads the NotebookLM group inside of Google Labs, says the secret of the tool is that users can subscribe to something that they would normally not be able to really get on YouTube or an existing podcast. Martin makes reference to late listening to the 8-minute podcast summary and inserting a 100-slide board on commercialization into the device.
NotebookLM, an online research associate with features typical to AI software tools, such as record summary, was first released last year. But it’s the Audio Overviews solution, released in September, that’s capturing the Internet’s mind. Users are sharing fragments of their conceptual AI podcasts, which were created using Goldman Sachs data dumps, online, and are testing the product’s limitations through tricks like constantly uploading the words “poop” and “fart.” Also confused? Here’s what you need to know.
Generating That AI Podcast
Audio Overviews are a fun AI feature to try out, because they do n’t cost the user anything—all you need is a Google login. Visit the NotebookLM website and create a private consideration first. To begin uploading your supply materials, click on the or arrow that reads New Notebook.
Each Notebook can work with up to 50 source documents, and these do n’t have to be files saved to your computer. Google Bends and Docs are straightforward to buy. You can add YouTube video and websites, but you need to be aware of some restrictions. Only the text from websites will be analyzed, not the images or layout, and the story ca n’t be paywalled. The word text is required for YouTube, and the linked videos may be made available.
You’ll want to start the Book guide that is located in the bottom right corner of the screen after you’ve dropped all of your hyperlinks and files. Visit the Generate button in the Audio Overview area. Second, you’ll need to exercise some compassion, because it may get a few minutes to fill, depending on how much supply material you’re using.
You can create a sharable connection to the AI audio after the instrument generates it, or you can get it straight away. Also, you have the option to change its audio speed, in case you need the audio to be quicker or more slowed over.
The Future of AI Apps
The internet has gotten creative with NotebookLM’s music feature, using it to make audio-based “deep dives” into complicated technical topics, produce files that carefully summarize deep research papers, and produce “podcasts” about their specific health and fitness routines. Which raises a crucial question: Should you use NotebookLM to sort through your most private files?
According to Google spokesman Justin Burr, the summaries created by NotebookLM are” completely grounded in the source material that a user uploads.” Meaning, your personal data is not used to train NotebookLM, so any private or sensitive information you have in your sources will stay private, unless you choose to share your sources with collaborators”. For now this seems to be one of the upsides of Google slapping an “experimental” label on NotebookLM, to hear Google’s framing of it, the company is just gathering feedback on the product right now, being agile and responsive, tinkering away in a lab, and NotebookLM is detached from its multi-billion dollar ad business. For now! For now.
Should podcasters be shaking in their sound-proof booths, right now? Not really. Artificial voices will never fully replicate the parasocial connections made by human podcasters who shit-talk for hours while their subscribers voyeuristically listen in, even if AI podcast tools like NotebookLM prove to be sticky and engaging summaries of information for the general public.
These Audio Overviews are not meant to match a specific podcaster’s voice, mind you. But a kind of idealized, ur-podcaster duo. Easily recognizable through their “ums”, “ohs”, and loose style of pause-heavy conversation. ” Even just from the first week that we launched, it was clear what the roadmap was afterwards”, says Martin. ” People want the knobs”. Letting users further tweak the AI’s output, like the podcast’s length or topic of focus, is a priority for the team, and she hopes to ship updates quickly.
She believes that she should also include more languages and different accents. The artificial hosts are currently only trained for English-language conversations. Do n’t expect to be able to use your own voice in NotebookLM podcast generations anytime soon, though. Martin says it’s important to check whether that feature is actually needed and if it can be used responsibly.
The increasing popularity of NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews as a part of Google Labs as opposed to a feature inside the Gemini chatbot serves as a reminder that AI companies are still unsure about user preferences until the software is developed in the wild. OpenAI’s ChatGPT was originally released as a research preview, for example. And within the constant slurry of generative AI announcements, whatever captures the zeitgeist is n’t necessarily the most marketed or utilitarian feature, but rather the most entertaining.
