Google is using AI to make fake podcasts from your research

Google tin now turn your investigation into an AI-generated podcast, complete pinch 2 “hosts” that talk what you’ve dug up. The experimental characteristic lives wrong NotebookLM, nan AI note-taking app Google launched past year, and will person AI hosts “summarize your material, make connections betwixt topics, and banter backmost and forth.”

It’s meant to build connected NotebookLM’s existing features that help you interact pinch each your notes, transcripts, and different investigation documents. The app already uses Google’s Gemini AI exemplary to thief summarize your research, and this is benignant of for illustration an audio type of that.

Google isn’t making things up erstwhile it says nan AI hosts will “banter” pinch each other, either. When trying retired Audio Overview for myself, I plugged successful 1 of nan sample notebooks astir nan invention of nan lightbulb, and nan results were... a spot uncanny. During nan 10-minute-long overview, nan 2 hosts had a lighthearted chat astir really Thomas Edison wasn’t nan only personification down nan lightbulb and that “in nan end, it’s really a communicative astir teamwork, making nan dream work.”

The hosts could almost beryllium mistaken for quality podcasters, from nan measurement they emphasized “bam!” erstwhile tossing it successful nan mediate of a sentence, to utilizing modern phrasing for illustration “messy arsenic heck.” There were still a mates of quirks, arsenic I noticed nan AI pronunciation retired definite words and phrases, for illustration “P-L-U-S.” Some of nan penning wasn’t precisely what a quality would say, either, pinch 1 AI big calling platinum “bling bling metal.”

The characteristic makes learning astir investigation much engaging, but I’m wondering whether nan hosts would support their lighthearted, somewhat jokey reside erstwhile discussing much superior topics, for illustration crab aliases war. There’s rather a spot of filler during nan speech arsenic well, truthful it mightiness not beryllium nan champion measurement to quickly and intelligibly distill each your information. That’s thing Google mentions successful its announcement, arsenic it says nan characteristic is “not a broad aliases nonsubjective position of a topic, but simply a reflection” of your notes.

There are immoderate different limitations to Audio Overview arsenic well, arsenic Google says it could return respective minutes to make a podcast-like discussion, and it’s only disposable successful English. Like galore AI tools, it isn’t ever accurate.

You tin effort retired nan characteristic for yourself by opening up a notebook in NotebookLM. From there, prime nan Notebook guideline successful nan bottom-right area of nan screen, and past deed Load beneath nan “Audio Overview” heading. I cognize I’m going to beryllium doing immoderate investigation connected a random taxable conscionable truthful I tin perceive what nan AI podcasters person to say.