NotebookLM (Google NotebookLM) is a research and note-taking online tool developed by

Google Labs Google Labs is an incubator created by Google to test and publicly demonstrate new projects. The original version was online from early 2002 to mid-2011. Google described Labs as "a playground where our more adventurous users can play around w ...

that uses

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(AI), specifically Google Gemini, to assist users in interacting with their documents.

History

NotebookLM was initially launched in 2023 as "Project Tailwind". The team building the product includes popular science author Steven Johnson and product manager Raiza Martin. In mid-October 2024, Google removed the "experimental" status/badge for the software. In December 2024, Google launched the paid version of NotebookLM, called NotebookLM Plus, to enterprises and paid Gemini subscribers. On February 10, 2025, Google expanded NotebookLM Plus to individual users through the

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AI Premium subscription plan. This expansion followed its initial release nearly two months earlier, when it was made available to enterprises via Google Cloud and Google Workspace. Initially offered on a limited basis, NotebookLM Plus now provides enhanced features designed to improve research and organization.

Usage

NotebookLM can generate summaries, explanations, and answers based on content uploaded by users. It also includes "Audio Overviews", which summarize documents in a conversational, podcast-like format. In addition to text files, NotebookLM can process PDFs,

Google Docs Google Docs is an online word processor and part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. Google Docs is accessible via a web browser as a web-based application and is also available as a mobile app on Android and iO ...

, websites, and

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. It can only process videos that have a transcript or subtitles attached as it cannot extract transcripts from videos that lack it. The "Audio Overviews" feature, released in September 2024, gained media attention for its ability to condense complex documents into podcast-style audio files.

Adoption

Google describes NotebookLM as a "virtual research assistant". The 2024 Spotify Wrapped used this feature to generate podcast-style personalized overviews of individual listening habits. Initially intended for researchers, NotebookLM has also been adopted by companies and students.

References

2023 software Google software Web applications AI software Note-taking software

External links

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How NotebookLM Was Made
episode of the ''Latent Space'' podcast {{Google AI