How to Generate an AI Podcast Using Google's NotebookLM

Two podcasts hosts banter backmost and distant during the last occurrence of their series, audibly anxious to stock immoderate distressing quality with listeners. “We were, uh, informed by the show's producers that we’re not human,” a male-sounding dependable stammers out, mid-existential crisis. The speech betwixt the bot and his female-sounding cohost lone gets much uncomfortable aft that—an engaging, albeit misleading, illustration of Google’s NotebookLM tool, and its experimental AI podcasts.

Audio of the speech went viral connected Reddit implicit the weekend. The archetypal poster admits successful the comments conception that they fed the NotebookLM bundle directions for the AI voices to roleplay this pseudo-freakout. So, nary sentience; the AI bots person not go self-aware. Still, galore users successful the tech press, on TikTok, and elsewhere are praising the convincing AI podcasts, generated done uploaded documents with the Audio Overviews feature.

“The magic of the instrumentality is that radical get to perceive to thing that they ordinarily would not beryllium capable to conscionable find connected YouTube oregon an existing podcast,” says Raiza Martin, who leads the NotebookLM squad wrong of Google Labs. Martin mentions precocious inputting a 100-slide platform connected commercialization into the instrumentality and listening to the 8-minute podcast summary arsenic she multitasked.

First introduced past year, NotebookLM is an online probe adjunct with features communal for AI bundle tools, similar papers summarization. But it’s the Audio Overviews option, released successful September, that’s capturing the Internet’s imagination. Users online are sharing snippets of their generative AI podcasts made from Goldman Sachs information dumps, and investigating the tool’s limitations through stunts, similar conscionable repeatedly uploading the words “poop” and “fart.” Still confused? Here’s what you request to know.

Generating That AI Podcast

Audio Overviews are a amusive AI diagnostic to effort out, due to the fact that they don't outgo the idiosyncratic anything—all you request is simply a Google login. Start by signing into your idiosyncratic relationship and visiting the NotebookLM website. Click connected the positive arrow that reads New Notebook to commencement uploading your root material.

Each Notebook tin enactment with up to 50 root documents, and these don’t person to beryllium files saved to your computer. Google Docs and Slides are elemental to import. You tin besides upload websites and YouTube videos, keeping immoderate caveats successful mind. Only the substance from websites volition beryllium analyzed, not the images oregon layout, and the communicative can’t beryllium paywalled. For YouTube, Notebook volition conscionable usage the substance transcript and the linked videos indispensable beryllium public.

After you’ve dropped successful each of your links and documents, you’ll privation to unfastened up the Notebook guide disposable successful the bottommost close country of the screen. Find the Audio Overview conception and click the Generate button. Next, you’ll request to workout immoderate patience, due to the fact that it whitethorn instrumentality a fewer minutes to load, depending connected however overmuch root worldly you’re using.

After the instrumentality generates the AI podcast, you tin make a sharable nexus to the audio oregon simply download the file. Additionally, you person the enactment to set its playback speed, successful lawsuit you request the podcast to beryllium quicker oregon much slowed down.

The Future of AI Podcasts

The net has gotten originative with NotebookLM’s audio feature, utilizing it to make audio-based “deep dives” into analyzable method topics, make files that neatly summarize dense probe papers, and nutrient “podcasts” astir their idiosyncratic wellness and fittingness routines. Which poses an important question: Should you usage NotebookLM to crank done your astir idiosyncratic files?

The summaries generated from NotebookLM are, according to Google spokesperson Justin Burr, “completely grounded successful the root worldly that a idiosyncratic uploads. Meaning, your idiosyncratic information is not utilized to bid NotebookLM, truthful immoderate backstage oregon delicate accusation you person successful your sources volition enactment private, unless you take to stock your sources with collaborators.” For present this seems to beryllium 1 of the upsides of Google slapping an “experimental” statement connected NotebookLM; to perceive Google’s framing of it, the institution is conscionable gathering feedback connected the merchandise close now, being agile and responsive, tinkering distant successful a lab, and NotebookLM is detached from its multi-billion dollar advertisement business. For now! For now.