NotebookLM (short for “Language Model”) is Google’s AI-powered research and note-taking tool. Think of it as a personal tutor or research aide that works directly with your sources—whether that’s a Google Doc, PDF, YouTube video, or pasted text. Once you upload material, NotebookLM uses Google’s Gemini AI to summarize content, generate questions, explain complex ideas, and create custom outputs based on your data.
It’s like having a supercharged version of ChatGPT—except it’s grounded only in the material you feed it. Focused assistance. Whether you’re a student, researcher, educator, or knowledge worker, NotebookLM helps you actually use your notes and sources more effectively.
Now, the following caveat is essential: don’t blindly trust any AI tool. The old adage ' trust but verify' applies very much here.
Auto-Summarization & Topic Overviews
What it does: NotebookLM generates summaries, outlines, mindmaps, highlights, and even a podcast from your sources instantly.
Why it matters: Saves hours of reading: perfect for reviewing lengthy materials or quickly understanding complex reports, academic papers, or meeting transcripts.
Discover Sources Tool
What it does: A “Discover” button fetches relevant, trustworthy (again - trust but verify) source material from across the web, then pulls it into a notebook for you.
Why it matters: You’re not just limited to your own uploads. It becomes a dynamic research platform that helps you build knowledge even from scratch, like a smarter Google for researchers.
Audio Overviews & Mind Maps
What it does: NotebookLM turns summaries into audio explainers and visual mind maps.
Why it matters: Ideal for auditory and visual learners, you can listen on the go or use maps to grasp relationships between concepts, making studying or briefing more interactive and personalized.
New Changes
Yesterday, Google announced some cool updates. They released Featured Notebooks, i.e. shareable, public notebooks that anyone can open and interact with. This is particularly useful for study groups and research projects. As someone studying for the United States Tax Court Practitioner exam, I look forward to sharing this with my study group.
Like most products, there is a free version and a paid version. If you are using Google Workspace, you get access to the paid version. Otherwise, it is $19.99 a month, but they are giving you 30 days free to try it.
Use Case
Let’s say you want to learn more about a tax court case. We will use a recent case (Muhammad v. Commissioner T.C. Memo. 2025-77). I downloaded the order from Dawson (The Tax Court online system). I uploaded the PDF into NotebookLM.
Step 1: Download the opinion from Dawson
Step 2: Upload the PDF to NotebookLM
Step 3: Review the auto-generated summary
Step 4: Ask questions like: What is a badge of fraud?
Step 5: Click on numbered references to jump to the original text
Step 6: Generate a study guide or podcast-style review
It immediately generates a summary of the document's contents. Now let’s ask a question — What is a badge of fraud?
Notice the numbers next to the statements? This is the cool part! I clicked on number 5 (Failed to Keep Adequate Records), and it took me to the source document.
You can also generate an FAQ.
You can create a study guide that will quiz you on the facts of the case (or whatever sources you provide).
NotebookLM can even simulate a podcast-style dialogue between two hosts discussing your source material — a novel feature that’s still evolving, but shows promise. They will discuss the source documents. While this is not 100% perfect and it has gotten things wrong in the past (again trust but verify) it has gotten better. It will allow us to give further suggestions and make modifications:
The notes that you make can also be converted into a source document.
I’d love to hear how others are using it — reply and share your thoughts. If you haven’t tried it yet, the free trial makes it worthwhile to experiment with.