Quick Tutorial NotebookLM 2024

Analyze & Synthesize any data with this Free AI

For some time now, I've wanted to tell you about one of my favorite AI tools for work. But you know, new OpenAI releases, Amazon models, and more have forced a focus on larger products.

Fortunately, Google just recently updated NotebookLM and gave me an excuse to dedicate a post to it. So, let's discuss one of the most valuable products for creators, entrepreneurs, analysts, and researchers!

In this issue:

• What is NotebookLM and its Usage Scenarios

• Quick Tutorials and Useful Prompts

• Personal Experience of a few months with this AI tool

Keep your mailbox updated with practical knowledge & key news from the AI industry!

What Is NotebookLM? (Not a Gimmick!)

NotebookLM is Google's tool for analyzing and summarizing data from various sources. It now uses the latest Gemini 2.0 Flash (an update released less than a week ago) and allows users to upload websites, YouTube videos, audio files, and documents like PDFs and Google Docs. Once uploaded, NotebookLM analyzes content to generate summaries and key topics, making it easier to understand complex material.

The tool includes a chat interface where you can ask questions about the uploaded content and receive context-sensitive answers that link to specific sections of the original documents. This feature lets you quickly validate AI and create tutorials, marketing reports, FAQ sections, and even podcasts.

The main difference (and its killer feature) with ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok and others is that NotebookLM only addresses the data you have provided. So you don't have to fear that the AI will make up some fact. And if you have any doubts regarding the veracity, you can quickly check the information via the attached links.

If you follow AI Influencers (we've covered which ones are noteworthy here), you've probably heard of NotebookLM as a fun thing that generates podcasts. Honestly, that definition annoys me a bit, because it's capable of so much more.

Here are a few scenarios for different audiences:

• Content Repurposing: Creators can upload existing blog posts or YouTube videos from competitors and ask NotebookLM to analyze key topics for social media posts, streamlining the content creation process. If you have a topic or niche that you have no way to approach, this is the fastest way.

• Report Analysis & Research: Analysts can upload lengthy reports (e.g., annual business reports) and request concise analyses or executive summaries, saving valuable time in information processing. It can also retrieve specific facts with links on demand, which makes their job much easier.

• Study Aid: Students can upload lecture notes or academic papers to highlight key findings and create study guides, which enhances their learning efficiency. And, again, no speculation and no unnecessary advice. All information will be used from the training materials provided.

• Mind Mapping: Unlike ChatGPT and others, NotebookLM has everything you need to intelligently manage your sources. Writers can use it to develop stories (and not get tangled up in all the intricacies), and researchers can build their reports from scratch.

And that's us only scratching the surface. I know it's impossible to list all the use cases, so here are some examples from Reddit users:

---

Content Synthesis

One of the features I would like to single out separately. It's especially good for those who have to work with a lot of complex content (let's agree that we all do in one way or another). I'm talking about synthesizing your content, including YouTube videos.

If you want to learn a complex topic through video—from learning new practical skills to quantum physics—this platform can make the process faster and clearer. You can upload links to multiple YouTube videos at once and use the following prompt:

Cover [your topic] for a non technical people

Then you can read the summary of all the videos at once or, yes, even generate a podcast, save it and to listen during the walk. Given that NotebookLM only works with the content provided, you'll be more confident in the quality than with any other AI.

I adore this feature!

Limitations & Disadvantages

You can always find cons, but thankfully there aren't very many here.

• If the PDFs have an overly complex layout, the AI may miss some important pieces of data. This doesn't happen often, but you should keep it in mind.

• Fresh YouTube videos are not always supported. For some unknown reason, the platform sometimes refuses to transcribe them.

• Right now, it supports podcast generation with two hosts (they always have the same voices). Over time, this gets a bit tiresome and starts to get annoying.

• The current limit is 500,000 words per source or up to 200MB for local uploads.

---

I recently had the opportunity to be a case of “Report Analysis and Research”. A few weeks earlier, I received a request from an entrepreneur planning to launch a startup accelerator. But before that, he needed a detailed market overview. I'll let you know how I did this task using NotebookLM a little further on.

For now, let's walk through how NotebookLM works.

Spoiler: it's pretty simple.

---

How To You Use NotebookLM | Tutorial & Prompts