Google is adding a little AI spice to the staid notes app. notebook LMan AI assistant app focused on helping writers, educators, students, and other creative types.
After keeping the app in beta for several months, Google released NotebookLM will be widely available to the public on Friday with several new features and tweaks. This tool aims to collect information from multiple documents and use it to integrate the information.
Google previously called it a “virtual research assistant” that can connect the dots across multiple documents. Let’s say you take your own class notes from a recent lesson and combine them with some assigned readings. You can have NotebookLM summarize the main points of a lesson or dig into the finer points of a particular subject.
Users can import multiple documents through Google Drive and add other PDFs or copied text. The app takes a few seconds to parse the document, then you can use a simple prompt menu to ask questions about the material or create new documents based on the information it contains.
At least that’s the idea. Users can save some answers to a “noteboard” and create their own reminders and thoughts using the “Add note” button.
Google first showed off NotebookLM concept Back during Google I/O.That was the time Google’s major AI announcement is a PaLM 2 model, New Gemini AI. This was internally called Project Tailwind, but it was released as NotebookLM to a select group of US-based writers to further develop the app. Partially powered by Gemini, Google released the AI ​​app to the public with its usual “experimental” modifier, pointing out how fallible it is.
Well, while I’ve been working on this, I can’t say I’m impressed. NotebookLM lies, makes things up, and does it in the weirdest ways possible. As an experiment, I connected a novel I wrote a few years ago and some supporting documents to his NotebookLM and asked him to write a query letter to send to a literary agent.
Some parts of my story were written correctly, but entire parts of its structure and plot were misunderstood. And I lied and said I was a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley (which I wasn’t) and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators. Let me tell you, I can’t remember the last time I touched a children’s book.
The more information NotebookLM has, the better, but it’s still far from perfect. The system provides citations for its claims so users can see its work, but the text highlighted in the original document is not necessarily related to the text generated by the AI. Even worse, I found that the system misunderstood entire aspects of the words I provided.
The system was at times insultingly bad, about as lazy as a grade schooler skimming through entire chapters trying to write a book review at the last moment. If you have students who think this is a new AI tool used for cheating, know that this tool could give you a big “F.”
Although there are many memo apps, best memo app It’s probably the app you’re currently using (but Probably not Evernote (if you are using the free version). In short, there’s not much difference between note-taking apps from big brands, especially if you just want to jot down fresh ideas or shopping lists.
While the idea of ​​an AI note-taking app sounds good enough, NotebookLM still needs significant improvements and someone to check how it works.