Google Notebook IA podcast tool was recently launched in the dominant current thanks to a collaboration with Spotify wrappedBut after a recent update, it is suddenly much more interactive. Now, instead of simply sitting and listening, you can actually join the conversation.
According to Google, users of Notebooklm have already generated “over 350 years of audio overview”, which mainly take documents downloaded and transform them into bidirectional conversations hosted by AI to make them easier to digest. The idea is that you could submit a white search paper of 50 pages, for example, and the podcast would give you a quick breakdown that you could listen to while doing other things.
It may be because Google uses the same voices for each audio overview, but according to my experience, they generally look strangely like a real back and forth, otherwise Without a little jank or robotic stiffness. That said, for a tool that is supposed to make the subjects complicated easier to understand, users are given little control over how to guide their conversations on AI – so far.
As part of a larger update that revises the user interface and adds additional features for corporate customers, Google also allows you to join the AI podcasts. The functionality, called joint, will not let you converse directly with your AI hosts, but rather interrupt the podcast to ask a question and direct the conversation. For example, if you listen to a ventilation of important dates in American history, but your hosts are distracted by speaking of state birds, you could stop them to put them back on the right track. Alternatively, you can just ask them to go further on a particular subject, or reiterate something that they have already covered.
The functionality is currently taking place in a beta version, and unfortunately, I have not yet got my hands on it. If you are more likely than me, Google says you can try it through the following steps:
Create a new audio preview
Press the new Interactive Mode (BETA) button and press Player
During listening, press “Join”, a host will call you.
Ask your question!
The company has published an example of the functionality in action, and it seems that you will have to press “join” for each question you have. It really seems that Google opts more here for a question and answer format, rather than treating you as a third host.
The result reminds me a little Live Geminiwhich also allows you to speak at the AI of Google in real time, but has had some quirks Regarding precision or understanding when I have tried to use it in the past. It is therefore logical that Google is it that the joint function is “experimental” and that hosts can “take a clumsily break before responding and can sometimes introduce inaccuracies”. In addition, the functionality will only work for new podcasts, so do not expect to suddenly reinvent the conversations that you have already generated.