Everyone is talking about the new Notebook LM tool from Google that lets you create podcasts from articles and other sources. I decided to try it for myself, using one of my prior pieces, The Upside and Downside of AI, as the basis for the podcast. The result, which you can listen to above, is simply amazing.
This article from Tom’s Guide explains what the fuss is about.
One particular feature that stood out to me is NotebookLM’s podcast-style summaries. The audio overview capability of NotebookLM, enables users to create podcast-style summaries from their selected sources. Essentially, the model can take anything from an article or blog post to an entire book manuscript and produce an audio file that sounds exactly like two people naturally engaged in a discussion about the content.
This is an innovative addition to the model’s capabilities, as now, instead of reading through texts, users can listen to an audio version of a customized study guide or summary. With the latest update, the AI can even summarize YouTube videos.
This makes it a perfect feature for multitasking; that way, one could digest information on the go, just like listening to a podcast or an audiobook. This function is a godsend for anyone who has an extremely busy schedule.
To create the podcast, I simply made a PDF of my Substack piece, uploaded it and had it create the podcast. Then I downloaded the sound file and uploaded it here in Mimir’s Well. It took about 30 minutes but most of that was figuring out how everything worked. Now it would take me just a few minutes for the whole process.
I think the finished product is very well done. The podcast builds on the article, brings up excellent points from the piece, the “podcasters” are quite entertaining, and the sound quality is very high. I was very impressed!
In the end, will a lot of people choose to listen to these podcasts? It’s hard to say, especially if people produce volumes of them. But from a technical standpoint, being able to simply upload a file and create a podcast shows how far and how fast AI has come. Unbelievable.
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