Google provides featured notebooks on chosen subjects to NotebookLM

Google is including what it calls “featured notebooks” to NotebookLM as a method to demo its AI-powered software program and provide interactive, high-quality sources on every part from private recommendation to William Shakespeare. The corporate tried something similar after its developer convention in Might, when it created a NotebookLM pocket book skilled on every part that was introduced at Google I/O 2025.

The brand new featured notebooks have their very own devoted tab on the NotebookLM homepage and have been created in partnership with “revered authors, researchers, publications and nonprofits world wide,” Google says. Like all NotebookLM tasks, you possibly can work together with the uncooked sources that make up the pocket book’s information base, ask questions on subjects in a chat interface or view an AI-generated abstract, audio overview or move chart for extra methods to work together with the content material.

The primary spherical of featured notebooks included a notebook on longevity advice skilled on the e-book Tremendous Agers, a notebook on 2025 predictions skilled on The Economist’s annual “The World Forward” report and an advice notebook skilled on The Atlantic‘s “The way to Construct a Life” column, amongst a number of different choices. Your mileage might differ on how helpful every featured pocket book is — I discovered the Shakespeare notebook to be essentially the most enjoyable to play with — however every is an efficient illustration of the standard and quantity of fabric that must be uploaded to NotebookLM for it to work nicely.

Google introduced NotebookLM in 2023 as an experiment in constructing an AI instrument that depends on sources you add, reasonably than regardless of the firm managed to scrape off the web. The concept is that chats about subjects in NotebookLM can be much less susceptible to hallucinations than what an AI Overview in Google Search spits out. Or on the very least, it might be simpler to test the AI’s solutions as a result of the supply materials is a click on away.

NotebookLM turned actually well-liked when Google launched Audio Overviews in September 2024, AI-generated podcasts in regards to the materials uploaded to a NotebookLM pocket book. Since then, the corporate has expanded the instrument at a speedy clip, introducing mobile apps and the ability to share public notebooks. Clearly, Google is dedicated to NotebookLM and featured notebooks are an additional try to mannequin how the AI-powered instrument can really be helpful.

Google says featured notebooks can be found to individuals utilizing the desktop model of NotebookLM at this time and extra featured notebooks can be added sooner or later.