Google NotebookLM – The underdog among AI tools
Google NotebookLM in practical testing: Upload up to 300 of your own documents, chat about them, generate automatic podcasts — and barely hallucinate.
What you will learn
NotebookLM flies a little under the radar, but it is one of the most useful AI tools for anyone who works with many different documents.
Key advantages over ChatGPT
Up to 300 sources at the same time in one notebook
The LLM used hallucinates far less than Gemini or ChatGPT
Every statement can be backed by a source reference - checked directly in the source documents
Answers are based solely on your own uploaded documents
Supported source formats
PDFs, text documents, Markdown, audio (MP3 is transcribed), Google Docs, Google Slides, websites, YouTube videos (if a transcript is available), copy and paste
Podcast feature
NotebookLM automatically creates an interactive podcast with two voices (male/female) from all uploaded sources. Download it to your phone, listen on the train - ideal for getting an overview of many documents.
Practical examples
Swiss studies (Credit Suisse, James, Very Barometer): ask cross-topic questions
All blog posts together: custom instructions with author context
Adriano's online shop: training materials + the entire WhatsApp chat as sources
Tip
Use custom instructions to add context: e.g. author, role, topic. Pin important results as a note - otherwise the chat history is temporary.
Cost
Free. Only needs a Google account.