- Google is adding new customization features to NotebookLM
- A new ‘join’ feature is rolling out so you can become part of the podcast
- NotebookLM Plus will be launched in early 2025
Google is enhancing its popular AI podcast generator NotebookLM with the addition of a ‘join’ feature that enables you to join in the chat with the two AI hosts and ask your own questions, which they can respond to. Google has also added more customization features to the free NotebookLM, and is adding a paid-for Plus tier with more features in early 2025.
NotebookLM is really a research tool from Google Labs that’s designed to help you absorb complex topics quickly. You feed PDF documents, websites, podcasts and YouTube videos into it and it produces an AI Audio Overview on the topic, which you can listen to and get all the salient points from. The Audio Overview takes the form of a podcast show conducted between two AI hosts, and it sounds so much like a natural conversation that it’s hard to believe it’s been created by AI.
It’s this ability to produce human-like conversations that has set NotebookLM apart from other AI tools. If you want to hear how good it is, check out this Audio Overview of this very article.
New customization tools
Google has given NotebookLM a bit of a refresh in recent days, adding more customization options to its interface. There are now three sections to the main interface: a Sources bar on the left, the ‘Notebook guide’ window in the main part of the screen, and a Chat window at the bottom.
The Sources bar is pretty much the same as it always was – you can select which of the sources you want to go into the audio overview mix here, and add more. The ‘Notebook guide’ window is where you create your Audio Overview, and the Chat window is there for you to ask questions and get AI-generated answers based on your sources.
The final new feature worthy of note is a Customize button that appears when you want to generate your Audio Overview. Here you can type in what you’d like the podcast to focus on before it’s generated. So, for example, you could type in ‘Put more emphasis on Chapter 2 of the document’ or ‘Focus more on the underlying themes of power and ambition’.
Behind the scenes, NotebookLM is now using the Gemini 2.0 model that Google released on December 11. However, the really interesting new feature is the ability for users to join the AI conversation, which is rolling out now.
Joining a podcast
After you’ve created your Audio Overview you simply tap the ‘Interactive mode’ button, then hit play to start your Audio Overview. At any point you can tap the new ‘Join’ button to join in. When you do a host will invite you to join the conversation, and you can ask it a question.
Below is a video showing how it works. This feature wasn’t available to us when we tried today (December 16), but it’s rolling out as we speak.
Finally, as if all that wasn’t enough, in early 2025 Google is bringing out a paid-for tier to NotebookLM subscription tier called NotebookLM Plus. Details are pretty sketchy at the moment, but you’ll be able to create 5x more Audio Overviews, plus you’ll be able to customize the length and style of your notebook responses.
It looks like 2025 is going to be an exciting year for AI podcasting.
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