Google’s AI podcast maker NotebookLM may be coming to the Gemini app on your phone
- Beta code indicates Gemini gets NotebookLM access
- With NotebookLM, Gemini can create AI podcasts from PDFs or videos
- Linked to your mobile, AI Podcasts can help you learn more about any topic around you
Diving deep into the code for the latest beta version of the Google Gemini app, it looks like Google’s NotebookLM AI podcast creation software may be coming to Google Gemini on your phone.
Android Authority found the following lines of code in a beta version of Gemini:
Generate audio overview
Generate audio
overview As you can see, both “create_podcast” and “Generate audio summary” are visible, indicating that Gemini will have the ability to generate a podcast. Additionally, the NotebookLM section that creates the podcast is called an audio outline. Taken together, these two things seem to point to a role for Google’s NotebookLM in a future version of Gemini.
How would it work?
Of all the weird and wonderful applications of AI that will emerge in 2024, Google’s NotebookLM remains one of the most compelling. NotebookLM includes a number of products that use AI to help you learn any subject. You submit your source material as a text file, PDF or video and it helps you organize that material. One of the ways this is done is through audio overviews.
An audio overview is essentially an audio file that takes the form of a podcast show between two presenters discussing the topic you’ve given it via PDFs, web pages, or a YouTube video. Listening to two people discuss a topic is a great way to help you learn more about it.
What makes NotebookLM great is how realistic the podcast sounds. It’s very hard to believe that you’re not listening to two real people discussing the subject.
If Gemini gives you the ability to create audio podcasts based on the data sources you add to them, then this is a great way to help you learn new topics.
You can imagine the situation where you upload a PDF to Gemini and then ask it, “Hey, can you make me a podcast about this PDF?” Combine that with Google Lens, and you could have Gemini generate podcasts about the things you’re watching. Imagine taking a tour around a famous building, such as the Vatican, or having Gemini produce a podcast about the building that serves as a guided tour.
The potential for NotebookLM to integrate with other apps or be useful in new situations is virtually limitless, and we expect Google to come up with new and interesting ways to use it in the very near future.