Google has just made a significant upgrade to its AI research tool, NotebookLM, by adding a handy web search feature. This new addition is designed to make your research process smoother and more efficient. Now, you can easily search for and integrate online sources directly into your notebooks. Simply describe what you’re looking for, and the tool will automatically fetch and organize relevant internet sources for you. With just a click, you can add these sources to your notebooks, making tasks like creating briefings and generating FAQs a breeze.
This feature is being rolled out to all NotebookLM users, so you’ll likely see it soon if you haven’t already. However, it’s worth noting that this integration does bring up some potential copyright issues. There’s some uncertainty about how content creators, especially publishers, might react to having their full web sources included, as it could potentially draw traffic away from their sites.
What sets NotebookLM apart is its approach to minimizing AI hallucinations by relying on user-provided sources instead of broad training data. One of its standout features is the Audio Overview, which turns documents into a conversational dialogue between two AI moderators. Recently, NotebookLM has moved out of its experimental phase and is now available in two versions: a free Basic version and a more advanced Plus version with added business features. Despite reaching 31.5 million visits last October, NotebookLM still has some catching up to do compared to ChatGPT’s massive user base.
