Google launches AI note-taking app: All about the NotebookLM

Google has launched a new AI-powered notes app called NotebookLM, which aims to help people learn faster. The app uses a powerful language model to analyze and summarize content, generate ideas, and answer questions. It is currently only available for Google Docs and is limited to users in the US.

Google has introduced a new AI-powered custom note-taking app called NotebookLM to help people learn faster. The new app was first announced at the Google I/O event in May of this year under the name Project Tailwind and is currently an experimental product of Google Labs.

Google says it wants to re-imagine what note-taking software would look like if it were designed from the ground up using a powerful language model. The new AI is only available for Google Docs, but the search giant promises to add new formats soon. NotebookLM is also available only to users in the US by signing up for a Google Labs waiting list.

Introducing the new notes app in a blog post, Google wrote: "NotebookLM is an experimental product designed to use the power and promise of language models paired with your existing content to gain critical insights, faster. Think of it as a virtual research assistant that can summarize facts, explain complex ideas, and brainstorm new connections — all based on the sources you select."

What can NotebookLM do?

Google explains that NotebookLM is capable of handling three main tasks mainly:

1) Generate summary: Users can generate a summary, key topics, and questions after adding a Google Doc in NotebookLM.

2) Ask questions based on the source material: Users can ask questions about the documents they have uploaded to NotebookLM. For example, a writer working on a biography might upload research notes and ask a question like: "Summarize all the times Houdini and Conan Doyle interacted."

3) Generate new ideas: Users will be able to generate new ideas using documents uploaded to NotebookLM. For example, a content creator could upload ideas for a new video and ask the AI to generate a script.

How is NotebookLM different from other AI apps?

With NotebookLM, Google aims to solve, or at least mitigate, the biggest problem associated with AI systems like ChatGPT and Bard: 'hallucination', the phenomenon where a large language model (LLM) generates incorrect information and confidently presents as the correct answer.

Google uses a process called 'source grounding', which the company says effectively creates a custom AI that knows information relevant to you. Source grounding allows the language model to analyze your notes and sources for answers. However, Google warns against mindlessly trusting its app and urges users to check the AI's responses against the source material.