What you need to know
- NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews just got interactive, letting users chat with AI hosts after podcasts are created.
- You can now use your voice to ask AI hosts for more details or explanations during a podcast.
- The app’s new three-panel interface makes managing and creating content easier: "Sources" for project info, "Chat" for AI discussions, and "Studio" for creating new content.
NotebookLM's Audio Overviews just got a whole lot more interactive. After a successful year, NotebookLM is letting users have actual conversations with its AI Audio Overview hosts.
Google has introduced a new feature that lets you interact with AI hosts of generated podcasts. After a podcast is created, you can turn on "Interactive Mode" and hit "Join" to start chatting live with the AI hosts.
You can jump into a NotebookLM podcast with your voice and ask the AI hosts to explain stuff more or give you the details you want. Plus, there's a new three-panel interface that should make managing and creating content in the app a lot easier.
The three sections include a "Sources" panel to manage all your project info, a "Chat" panel to talk through your sources with AI, and a "Studio" panel for creating new content, like Audio Interfaces, from your sources.
Audio Overviews and AI hosts are designed to help users tackle their uploaded docs—like class notes or legal papers—in a whole new way, making it easier to understand.
Google describes it as having a personal tutor who listens to you and answers using the info from the sources you’ve shared.
Talking to NotebookLM could be a cool way to explore your saved content, but Google says it’s still in the experimental stage. So, don’t be shocked if the AI stumbles or slips up with some details.
Finally, both individuals and organizations can now grab NotebookLM Plus, a subscription that offers five times more Audio Overviews, notebooks, and sources per notebook, plus extra audio customization options and boosted security, privacy, and analytics.
The subscription is up for grabs now by businesses, educational institutions, and organizations. It’ll roll into Google One AI Premium sometime in early 2025.
