Google’s NotebookLM AI podcasts add ‘interactive’ mode for some Q-and-A

Google’s NotebookLM and its podcast-like Audio Overviews have been a surprise hit this year, and today Google company is starting to roll out a big new feature: the ability to actually talk with the AI “hosts” of the overviews.

When the feature is available to you, you can try it out with new Audio Overviews. (It won’t work with old ones.) Here’s how, according to a blog post:

Create a new Audio Overview.

Tap the new Interactive mode (BETA) button.

While listening, tap “Join.” A host will call on you.

Ask your question. The hosts will respond with a personalized answer based on your sources.

After answering, they’ll resume the original Audio Overview.

The ability to actually talk with NotebookLM seems like a potentially useful way to learn more about what you’ve collected in the app. But Google cautions that it’s an “experimental feature” and that “hosts may also pause awkwardly before responding or occasionally introduce inaccuracies,” so it may not be a totally polished experience to start.

In addition to the interactive Audio Overviews, Google is introducing a new interface for NotebookLM that organizes things into three areas: a “sources” panel for your information, a “chat” panel to talk with an AI chatbot about the sources, and a “studio” panel that lets you make things like Audio Overviews and Study Guides. I think it looks nice.

Google is announcing a NotebookLM subscription, too: NotebookLM Plus. The subscription will give you “five times more Audio Overviews, notebooks, and sources per notebook,” let you “customize the style and tone of your notebook responses,” let you make shared team notebooks, and will offer “additional privacy and security,” Google says. The subscription is available today for businesses, schools and universities, and organizations and enterprise customers. It will be added to Google One AI Premium in “early 2025.”

Google is also launching “Agentspace,” a platform for custom AI agents for enterprises. “Agentspace can provide conversational assistance, answer complex questions, make proactive suggestions and take actions based on your company’s unique information,” Google says. It also has connectors for apps like Microsoft SharePoint, Jira, and ServiceNow.