Google Now Lets You Talk to NotebookLM’s AI-Generated Podcasters

You can now talk to Google NotebookLM’s AI-generated podcast hosts.

Launched in September, NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews allows you to create an AI-generated podcast based on the text you feed into the app, whether it’s a newspaper article, an academic paper, or a childhood diary.

Using your voice, you can now interrupt a NotebookLM-produced podcast to ask the AI hosts for more details or request that they explain a concept differently. Google says it’s like having “a personal tutor” who listens to you and responds directly.

To try the new tool, open NotebookLM, and head to Create a New Audio Overview. Tap the new Interactive Mode (BETA) button and hit play. While listening, tap “Join,” and a host will call on you so you can ask a question.

Don’t expect a perfectly polished experience. Google warns that the tool is still an “experimental feature” and that the AI hosts may “pause awkwardly” or even “introduce inaccuracies.”

Google also announced several other updates for NotebookLM, including a subscription option called NotebookLM Plus. The subscription offers “five times more Audio Overviews, notebooks, and sources per notebook ” and the ability to customize the style and length of notebook responses. Paying users will also get features like “shared team notebooks with usage analytics” and enhanced privacy and security.

Currently, NotebookLM Plus is available for businesses, schools, universities, organizations, and enterprise customers via Google Workspace and can also be purchased separately via Google Cloud. The tool will then become available on Google One AI Premium in early 2025.

NotebookLM is also getting a visual update that organizes it into three distinct areas: a “Sources” panel for managing all the information for your project, a “Chat” panel for discussing your sources through conversational AI, and a “Studio” panel for creating new content—like Audio Interfaces—from your sources.

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About Will McCurdy

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I’m a reporter covering weekend news. Before joining PCMag in 2024, I picked up bylines in BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of London, The Daily Beast, Vice, Slate, Fast Company, The Evening Standard, The i, TechRadar, and Decrypt Media.

I’ve been a PC gamer since you had to install games from multiple CD-ROMs by hand. As a reporter, I’m passionate about the intersection of tech and human lives. I’ve covered everything from crypto scandals to the art world, as well as conspiracy theories, UK politics, and Russia and foreign affairs.

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