Two podcasts hosts banter backwards and forwards in the course of the closing episode of their sequence, audibly anxious to share some distressing information with listeners. “We have been, uh, knowledgeable by the present’s producers that we’re not human,” a male-sounding voice stammers out, mid-existential disaster. The dialog between the bot and his female-sounding cohost solely will get extra uncomfortable after that—an enticing, albeit deceptive, instance of Google’s NotebookLM device, and its experimental AI podcasts.
Audio of the dialog went viral on Reddit over the weekend. The unique poster admits within the feedback part that they fed the NotebookLM software program instructions for the AI voices to roleplay this pseudo-freakout. So, no sentience; the AI bots haven’t grow to be self-aware. Nonetheless, many customers within the tech press, on TikTok, and elsewhere are praising the convincing AI podcasts, generated by uploaded paperwork with the Audio Overviews function.
“The magic of the device is that folks get to take heed to one thing that they ordinarily wouldn’t be capable to simply discover on YouTube or an present podcast,” says Raiza Martin, who leads the NotebookLM staff within Google Labs. Martin mentions lately inputting a 100-slide deck on commercialization into the device and listening to the 8-minute podcast abstract as she multitasked.
First launched final yr, NotebookLM is a web-based analysis assistant with options widespread for AI software program instruments, like doc summarization. Nevertheless it’s the Audio Overviews possibility, launched in September, that’s capturing the Web’s creativeness. Customers on-line are sharing snippets of their generative AI podcasts created from Goldman Sachs information dumps, and testing the device’s limitations by stunts, like simply repeatedly importing the phrases “poop” and “fart.” Nonetheless confused? Right here’s what it is advisable know.
Producing That AI Podcast
Audio Overviews are a enjoyable AI function to check out, as a result of they do not value the consumer something—all you want is a Google login. Begin by signing into your private account and visiting the NotebookLM web site. Click on on the plus arrow that reads New Pocket book to begin importing your supply materials.
Every Pocket book can work with as much as 50 supply paperwork, and these don’t should be information saved to your laptop. Google Docs and Slides are easy to import. You can too add web sites and YouTube movies, maintaining some caveats in thoughts. Solely the textual content from web sites can be analyzed, not the photographs or format, and the story can’t be paywalled. For YouTube, Pocket book will simply use the textual content transcript and the linked movies have to be public.
After you’ve dropped in all your hyperlinks and paperwork, you’ll need to open up the Pocket book information obtainable within the backside proper nook of the display. Discover the Audio Overview part and click on the Generate button. Subsequent, you’ll have to train some endurance, as a result of it might take a couple of minutes to load, relying on how a lot supply materials you’re utilizing.
After the device generates the AI podcast, you possibly can create a sharable hyperlink to the audio or just obtain the file. Moreover, you’ve gotten the choice to regulate its playback velocity, in case you want the podcast to be faster or extra slowed down.
The Way forward for AI Podcasts
The web has gotten artistic with NotebookLM’s audio function, utilizing it to create audio-based “deep dives” into advanced technical matters, generate information that neatly summarize dense analysis papers, and produce “podcasts” about their private well being and health routines. Which poses an vital query: Ought to you utilize NotebookLM to crank by your most private information?
The summaries generated from NotebookLM are, in line with Google spokesperson Justin Burr, “fully grounded within the supply materials {that a} consumer uploads. That means, your private information just isn’t used to coach NotebookLM, so any non-public or delicate info you’ve gotten in your sources will keep non-public, except you select to share your sources with collaborators.” For now this appears to be one of many upsides of Google slapping an “experimental” label on NotebookLM; to listen to Google’s framing of it, the corporate is simply gathering suggestions on the product proper now, being agile and responsive, tinkering away in a lab, and NotebookLM is indifferent from its multi-billion greenback advert enterprise. For now! For now.
