Google announced Monday that it is expanding the repertoire of NotebookLM, its AI-powered note-taking and research platform, to include the works of some prominent publishing names.
Also: NotebookLM now lets you share your notebooks with anyone with a single link. Here’s how
The company is collaborating with a cohort of scientists, nonprofits, authors, and news publishers to deliver a series of featured notebooks for NotebookLM users. These notebooks cover subjects like science, practical travel tips, expert advice on parenting and wellbeing, finance, and the complete works of Shakespeare, Google wrote in a company blog post.
What new notebooks can you access?
The roster also includes featured notebooks from The Economist and The Atlantic, both of which have content partnerships with Google. The Economist’s notebook will allow readers to explore and interact with articles from “The World Ahead 2025,” the latest edition of the publication’s annual special issue.
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“This public notebook will feature our forward-looking journalism, examining what we view to be the most important trends and events shaping this year,” Luke Bradley-Jones, president of The Economist, said in a statement. “This is one of many ways The Economist is experimenting with AI. We look forward to learning from this collaboration.”
Here’s the full lineup for NotebookLM’s new featured notebooks, according to the blog post:
- Expert analysis and predictions for the year 2025 as shared in The World Ahead annual report by The Economist
- An advice notebook based on bestselling author Arthur C. Brooks’ “How to Build A Life” columns in The Atlantic
- A science fan’s guide to visiting Yellowstone National Park, complete with geological explanations and biodiversity insights
- An overview of long-term trends in human wellbeing, published by the University of Oxford–affiliated project, Our World In Data
- Science-backed parenting advice based on psychology professor Jacqueline Nesi’s popular Substack newsletter, Techno Sapiens
- The complete works of William Shakespeare, for students and scholars to explore
- A notebook tracking the Q1 earnings reports from the top 50 public companies worldwide, for financial analysts and market watchers alike
What can you do with the new notebooks?
Users are now able to explore each of the featured notebooks through a suite of tools offered via NotebookLM, including AI-generated audio overviews and Mind Maps, a feature that creates illustrated diagrams connecting disparate themes and ideas extracted from your notes. You can also ask questions about the material you’re studying directly to NotebookLM’s integrated AI assistant and receive natural-language responses, just as you would when conversing with ChatGPT or Gemini.
“Each collection lets you explore the content using all of NotebookLM’s signature features. You can read the original source material, but you can also pose questions or explore specific topics in depth, and get answers grounded in the original material, with citations,” said Google. “You can listen to pre-generated Audio Overviews, or explore the main themes using our Mind Maps feature.”
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Google introduced another feature for GoogleLM last month, which allows users to share their personal notebooks through public links. That feature has already been used more than 140,000 times, according to Monday’s blog post.
Collaboration or the courtroom
The Atlantic and The Economist are two major publishers that have opted to join forces with a leading AI developer at a time when generative AI tools are transforming online search, which has long been a vital link connecting readers with online journalism.
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News Corp, Axel Springer, and the Financial Times, among others, have signed content-licensing deals with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
Meanwhile, other prominent publishers have opted to sue AI companies for what they view as the illegal use of their copyrighted material to train AI models. The New York Times, for example, has sued OpenAI and its partner Microsoft. ZDNET’s parent company, Ziff Davis, has also sued OpenAI.
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