What is NotebookLM and how is it different from Gemini?

NotebookLM is a free AI tool from Google designed to help you understand your own documents. You upload sources, such as PDFs, Google Docs, websites, YouTube videos or notes, and NotebookLM answers questions based on those sources, with citations pointing to the exact passages it used.

The key difference from Gemini is focus. Gemini is a general assistant that draws on its broad knowledge and the web. NotebookLM is grounded in the sources you give it. Its answers are based on your documents, which makes it very useful when you want to study or analyse specific material rather than get general information.

Popular features include:

1. Source-grounded chat. Ask questions about your documents and click citations to see the original text.
2. Audio Overviews. NotebookLM can turn your sources into a podcast-style conversation between two AI voices discussing the material. Many people use this to learn while commuting. It supports several languages, including Hindi.
3. Study materials. Create summaries, study guides, FAQs, timelines, briefing documents, flashcards, quizzes and mind maps from your sources.
4. Video overviews and presentations in some versions, which turn sources into visual explainers.
5. Notes. Save useful answers and write your own notes alongside your sources.

Who benefits most?

Students. Upload lecture notes, textbooks and papers, then ask questions, create quizzes and listen to audio summaries before exams.
Researchers. Compare multiple papers and find connections.
Professionals. Analyse reports, policies, contracts or meeting notes.
Writers. Organise research material for books and articles.

To start, go to notebooklm.google.com, sign in with your Google account, create a notebook and add sources.

A few tips:

Keep each notebook focused on one topic or project.
Use good-quality sources; NotebookLM is only as reliable as what you upload.
Check citations for important points.
Remember that NotebookLM may not include outside knowledge, so if your sources are incomplete, answers will be too.

NotebookLM has a free version with generous limits, and paid Google AI plans offer higher limits. For business users, it is available through Google Workspace with organisational data protections.

If you study or work with large amounts of reading material, NotebookLM is one of the most useful free AI tools available.