NotebookLM capabilities

NotebookLM can start a project from loose ideas or questions instead of requiring the user to already have a source collection. In chat, it guides the user through building the notebook's source repository, and can autonomously use Google Search to find relevant, high-quality sources from the web and add them directly to the notebook.

Audio Overviews are AI-generated audio conversations between two AI hosts that summarize and discuss the key topics from the notebook's sources, available in four conversational formats and 80+ languages.

NotebookLM synthesizes a notebook's sources into clean, structured tables and exports them to Google Sheets. From the Studio panel the user describes the table they want (with suggested example prompts), and NotebookLM builds a table grounded in the uploaded sources - for example turning meeting transcripts into action items by owner and priority, a competitor pricing comparison, a synthesis of clinical-trial outcomes across papers, a study table of historical events, or a travel-destination comparison.

NotebookLM offers a curated gallery of publicly shared 'featured notebooks' created by Google and third parties, letting any signed-in user explore pre-loaded research notebooks without adding their own sources.

NotebookLM generates interactive flashcard decks and quizzes from notebook sources as study aids, with per-session progress tracking and difficulty customization.

NotebookLM generates interactive mind maps from notebook sources, visualizing main topics and their relationships as an expandable branching diagram in the Studio panel.

NotebookLM has dedicated native mobile apps for iOS (17+) and Android that bring core notebook functionality to phones and tablets, with some Studio outputs not yet available on mobile.

Deep Research turns NotebookLM from a passive document library into an active web researcher: you pose a question, it autonomously browses the live web across hundreds of websites, refining its searches as it learns, and returns an organized, source-grounded report with inline citations. The finished report plus its underlying sources can be added straight into the notebook, so the web findings can be chatted with and combined with your own uploaded documents.

NotebookLM's Notes feature lets users write free-form notes in the Studio panel and save valuable AI chat responses as persistent notes, up to 1,000 per notebook.

Each notebook can now run on a dedicated, secure cloud computing environment where NotebookLM writes and executes code (e.g. Python) server-side to perform deeper research and more complex analysis over the notebook's sources, showing both the generated code and its output. The environment draws on a library of more than 100 curated software skills that NotebookLM selects automatically based on the task, rather than the user choosing which to activate.

NotebookLM is not sold standalone; it is bundled into Google AI subscription plans (Standard free through Ultra) and qualifying Google Workspace plans, with usage limits scaling by tier.

NotebookLM does not use notebook content to directly train foundational AI models; privacy protections differ between personal Google accounts and Google Workspace or Education accounts.

Notebooks can be shared privately with named collaborators (Viewer or Editor) or made publicly accessible to any Google account holder via a link, enabling read-only or co-editing access to sources, notes, and Studio outputs.

NotebookLM accepts a wide range of source types that become the grounding material for all chat and Studio outputs. Supported formats span local files, cloud documents, URLs, and media.

NotebookLM's chat interface answers questions exclusively using the sources uploaded to the notebook, providing inline citations for every claim so users can verify the original passage. Responses are not generated from general world knowledge.

The Studio panel generates structured outputs from notebook sources in one click, including study guides, briefing documents, FAQs, timelines, and Data Tables, collectively surfaced as Reports in the current UI.

NotebookLM is powered by Google's Gemini model family. As of the officially announced 2026-06-08 upgrade, the backend runs on Gemini 3.5 and Antigravity for Google AI Ultra users and Workspace customers with AI Ultra Access or AI Expanded Access, with broader expansion to other tiers planned; earlier generations (Gemini 3 / 3.1 Pro) were reported by tech press for prior routing.

Video Overviews are AI-generated videos that transform notebook sources into visual presentations, ranging from narrated explainers to cinematic deep-dives with animations.