Google has introduced a slew of features to its AI research and writing assistant NotebookLM. The upgraded version of the tool is powered by Google’s most capable model Gemini 1.5 Pro. With the latest upgrade, the tool will now be available across 200 countries and territories around the world.
“Our goal from the beginning with NotebookLM has been to create a tool to help you understand and explore complex material, make new connections from information, and get to your first draft faster. You can upload sources — your research notes, interview transcripts, corporate documents — and instantly NotebookLM becomes an expert in the material that matters most to you,” said Steven Johnson and Raiza Martin from Google Labs, in a blog post introducing the new upgrades.
What’s new in NotebookLM?
With the latest upgrade, NotebookLM now supports Google Slides and web URLs as sources along with Google Docs, PDFs, and text files. When it comes to inline citations, users will now be taken directly to supporting passages in their sources. This makes it easy to fact-check the AI response or dive deeper into the original text. Besides, the Notebook Guide gives you a high-level understanding of sources by converting them into useful formats like FAQs, Briefing Docs, or Study Guides. Owing to Gemini 1.5 Pro’s native multimodal capabilities, users can now ask questions about images, charts, and diagrams in Slides or Docs. NotebookLM will also include citations to images as supporting evidence whenever relevant.
When asked about the accuracy and reliability of citations, Martin said that NotebookLM generates citations for all its answers and it always cites the sources for every piece of information provided, ensuring that the answers are based on the sources one uploads.
“For instance, if you upload a source that contains information A, B, or C, any related questions you ask will pull answers directly from that source. To verify the credibility of the sources used, NotebookLM constantly monitors the quality of the answers. It performs checks to ensure that the answers are grounded in the uploaded sources. Additionally, quality is closely monitored whenever new features or upgrades are released or when new models are introduced to ensure there are no losses in quality,” Raiza told indianexpress.com.
When it comes to privacy and security of the source’s data and processes, NotebookLM ensures this by adhering to Google’s standard data protection practices. “Notably, NotebookLM does not train on any user data, ensuring that your data remains private. This privacy guarantee is particularly important for users who wish to use NotebookLM with sensitive work or school documents. Safeguards are in place to protect user information, maintaining confidentiality and security at all times,” Raiza said.
Source: The Indian Express
Google’s NotebookLM now powered by Gemini 1.5 Pro
