Google Is Using AI To Turn Your Text Notes Into Podcast: Here's How

Google is developing a new feature allowing users to create an AI-generated podcast from their research notes. This experimental function may “summarise your material, make connections between topics, and banter back and forth” and is presently available via the AI-powered note-taking app from the tech giant, NotebookLM.

Google describes the new Audio Overview feature as “a new way to turn your documents into engaging audio discussions.” In a blog post, the tech giant said that with a single click, two AI hosts can begin a dynamic “deep dive” discussion based on your sources. Users can also save these interactions. NotebookLM powers the Audio Overview tool.

“They summarise your material, connect topics, and banter back and forth. You can even download the conversation and take it on the go,” Biao Wang, product manager at Google Labs said in a blog post.

The Verge, which tested the new NotebookLM function, reports that the AI hosts utilise modern words and sound like humans. However, the AI occasionally spelt words and sentences like “P-L-U-S”.

Click the “Generate” button to create an Audio Overview after opening one of your notebooks in NotebookLM and visiting the Notebook tutorial to utilise the new functionality.

Meanwhile, Google says that although the new feature might be a helpful tool, it has some restrictions. To create an Audio Overview, for instance, it could take a few minutes if your notebook is huge. Furthermore, there’s no way to interrupt the AI-powered hosts, who can only speak in English at the moment and who “sometimes introduce inaccuracies.”

NotebookLM accepts Google Slides and web URLs as sources, as well as Google Docs, PDFs, and text documents. So, you can utilise these sources to make a small podcast. It is important to keep in mind that using the Audio Overview option can be time-consuming.

Google expanded NotebookLM to more than 200 countries earlier this year, and the feature’s underlying big language model was improved to Gemini 1.5 Pro. Additionally, Google unveiled NotebookLM in June 2023, which functions similarly to a virtual research assistant, summarising facts, explaining complex ideas and brainstorming new connections.