Putting all of my thoughts in one place that makes sense is something I fight with every day. This is also true for my sister, who works on machine learning projects that combine dental science with other fields. My younger sister is a teacher, and her PC is full of more folders with teaching materials than I can count.
It’s a chore for us to put together pieces of learning or study material, sources, and notes that don’t make sense on their own. I had tried a lot of different efficiency and planning tools before I finally settled on Google’s NotebookLM last year. It does have a lot of AI. No, it won’t put too much stress on you with made-up facts and AI illusions.
While Gemini or ChatGPT are chatbots, NotebookLM can only work with your own materials. After that, it does more. In fact, a lot. It can turn your jumbled notes into well-organized papers, make a mind map, and even turn them into a podcast. As if it were a two-person news show, you can even talk over the two speakers while they talk about your written thoughts.
NotebookLM has only been available on the web platform so far. That made it hard to get to with a phone. The app finally came out on phones right before Google I/O. Even though there are still some things it can’t do, it can already do a lot more than most note-taking apps. To be fair, a lot more.
How to start using NotebookLM
The app for phones is pretty simple. Just call it “barebones” or a move to keep things as simple as possible. You begin by making a notebook, which is where you can put the sources. This could be a YouTube movie, a web page, a PDF file on your phone, or even words you copied from the clipboard.
The app will look over all the sources and be ready to answer your questions once the notebook has been made. Now, these can be very specific questions or general ones. Because of this, I submitted six research papers and market analysis reports that talk about how taxes affect the supply of graphite and how that affects the global electric vehicle (EV) business.
As a general request, I usually want all the source material to be put into a short piece so that I can get a quick idea of what it all means. However, NotebookLM can also provide “needle in the haystack” searches, along with the correct sources. For instance, when I asked it which country would be hit the hardest, it gave me a correct answer along with more information.
The best part? It starts a pop-up window with a link to a certain part of the source material so you can check that the AI got the right information. During my tests, the knowledge extraction has mostly been right on the mark. The only time it hasn’t been right on point is when I tested it on poetic text, where metaphors can sometimes mess up the AI and its understanding.
When you add more sources to a notebook, the AI will recap them and change how it answers based on what it has learned. Last but not least, the Studio area for podcasts is in the bottom bar. But more on that later.
Google’s NotebookLM tool on the web.
There are a few functions that are missing from NotebookLM that are present in the web version. One example is that you can’t add your own thoughts to the notebook or use it as a source. To get around this, you can save your note locally as a PDF file and then bring it into the NotebookLM app.
Creating mindmaps is one of the coolest things about NotebookLM, but the mobile app doesn’t have them either. In the same way, you can’t change the length of podcasts in the app. Lastly, there are no choices for making study tools, training documents, a plan, or a frequently asked questions page.
Looking at a NotebookLM mind map on an iPhone 16 Pro.
Thank goodness you can do everything on your phone. After making a FAQ or training document, all you have to do is add it as a source with one tap, and you can use it on your phone. Mind maps are the only ones that can’t be uploaded because they are saved as PNG files, which can’t be uploaded on the mobile app right now. That trick is only available on Gemini right now, but I think it will soon be available on NotebookLM as well.
Podcasts come in second.
One great thing about NotebookLM is that it can automatically make podcasts. You can just share your source URLs, PDF files, and notes, and the AI on board will make a podcast with two people for you. These podcasts have made studying and learning a little more interesting, especially for someone like me who spends all day reading.
Making podcasts on an iPhone 16 Pro with the NotebookLM app.
My coworkers and I just recently talked about how to prepare for an interview. I often forget one or two of the most important things to say, even when I’ve planned ahead. When I read the submitted questions again, this time as a live podcast, it stuck with me more than a normal list of bullet points.
These shows are more than that, though. You can even talk over the hosts and ask them things that are related to what they are talking about. There are two reasons why that perk isn’t given enough credit in this day and age of AI. The first thing is that you know where the audio clips are coming from.
Second, you don’t have to worry about whether or not to believe an AI, which often says stupid things with confidence, like gluing pizza recipes together.
Using the NotebookLM app on an iPhone 16 Pro to listen to podcasts.
There’s no doubt that the internet has quickly turned into a place where AI crap goes to die. Google is partly to blame. AI Overviews and AI Search Mode are still not very good at describing, and they sometimes get the most basic facts wrong.
Also, YouTube and other social media sites are getting more and more videos made by AI that make claims that can’t be proven and give outright false information. Spotify and Amazon have also changed how they feel about AI programming. To put it simply, it’s your job to check the facts.
That problem isn’t a problem with the podcasts that NotebookLM makes. What you hear from the hosts is only what you gave them to start with. peer-reviewed research papers, YouTube videos from reliable sources, stories, or your own thoughts (with all the spelling and grammar mistakes that come with them).
There are now different opinions among scientists about whether hearing or seeing is better for learning. A teacher and expert in languages told me that a blended learning method is better. The process of learning is a little more engaging and less dull when it uses more of our senses.
That being said, artistic persuasion can be very helpful when it comes to learning hard things. So, being able to interrupt the show speaker and ask them deep questions is very helpful. When they are answered directly in the context of the material given, instead of an AI vaguely describing it from the web, you can be sure that the answers are correct.
You should have this on your phone.
As far as taking notes goes, NotebookLM is the way of the future. It’s an app that basically makes your notes and other things you’ve gathered into something you can interact with. A style that lets you talk back and forth with an answering machine that has learned everything you’ve told it.
The NotebookLM app is being used on an Android phone.
After that, it’s changed into a podcast, where even the most complicated papers are read out loud by two people having a good time. You can save all of your readings in different types of forms so that you can share them with others or read them yourself. It’s easy for me to make mine into a FAQ with just one tap.
The app is the only thing that’s missing right now. I don’t understand why that is the case. If you only need the mobile web version of NotebookLM, it’s still a bit of a pain. You can get around those problems by making a web app link, which is just as easy.
Google says that NotebookLM is very popular with students, and I can second that in my own family. However, I believe that you should be able to use all of that Gemini Nano fun if your phone is ready for it. That might happen soon based on what I saw at Google I/O this year.