NotebookLM update lets you build source repos from chat
▼ Summary
– Google updated NotebookLM with Gemini 3.5 as the default model and added AI-powered research skills.
– The tool can now suggest sources using Google Search to help build a knowledge base, a change from requiring users to provide all sources.
– Users can give detailed instructions to generate output in various formats and edit the results.
– Supported export formats include data visualizations, documents, images, structured data, and Microsoft Office files.
– The updates are available to Google AI Ultra and Workspace business customers with AI Access starting today.
Google has rolled out a significant refresh to its NotebookLM research tool, introducing a suite of new capabilities alongside a shift to Gemini 3.5 as the default model. The update also brings Antigravity-powered software skills designed to assist users with research tasks and the generation of various output types.
This move mirrors Google’s broader strategy of embedding advanced coding and reasoning abilities into its search products to make them more interactive for question-and-answer sessions.
With this latest version, users can initiate a chat about a project directly within the app. NotebookLM will then assist in constructing the knowledge base by suggesting relevant sources using its research capabilities and integration with Google Search. This feature aims to help users discover primary sources in different languages or locate fresh material from related authors, a significant shift from the previous requirement that users supply all sources themselves before extracting insights.
The company also noted that users can now provide detailed instructions to NotebookLM to produce outputs in a variety of formats. Once generated, the content can be edited directly within the tool. Supported export formats now include data visualizations and charts (.png, .svg), documents (PDFs, .docx, Markdown, text files), Nano-banana-powered images, structured data (.csv, .json), and files for Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
Last year, Google introduced a “Deep Research” mode for structured online research. With this new update, NotebookLM will display detailed step-by-step reasoning in the chat interface, showing users exactly how it arrived at answers so they can verify the output.
According to Google, these updates are available starting today for Google AI Ultra users and all Workspace business customers with AI Ultra Access and AI Expanded Access, with plans to extend availability to additional users in the future.
(Source: TechCrunch)
