Google’s new AI tool can turn your notes, documents into a ‘mini’ podcast

Google AI

Continuing its spree of AI features, Google is rolling out another interesting tool. Google’s NotebookLM is rolling out a new feature called Audio Overview. For the uninitiated, in June 2023, Google had announced NotebookLM, which is like a a virtual research assistant that can summarise facts, explain complex ideas, and brainstorm new connections. Audio Overview is a tool that is powered by NotebookLM.

It is a new AI tool that can turn your documents, notes into audio discussions. Audio Overview can ‘create’ two AI hosts, who can then start a “deep dive” discussion based on your sources. “They summarise your material, make connections between topics, and banter back and forth. You can even download the conversation and take it on the go,” said Biao Wang, product manager, Google Labs, in a blog post.

To turn your notes/documents into a ‘mini’ podcast, you need to open an existing notebook. Then open your notebook guide. You will then have click on the “generate” button to create an Audio Overview.

In the blog post, Wang said that Audio Overview is still experimental and has some known limitations. For example, for large notebooks, it can take several minutes to generate an Audio Overview. “Also, when the AI hosts are explaining your sources today, they only speak English, sometimes introduce inaccuracies, and you can’t interrupt them yet,” he added.

NotebookLM supports Google Slides and web URLs as sources, along with Google Docs, PDFs and text files. So you can use these as sources to convert it into a mini podcast. Do keep in mind that if you try the Audio Overview feature, it can take some time.