Ran! Listen to this!

What's wrong, Ete-senpai?

I have 20 PDFs, 10 reports, and 5 YouTube explanation videos for my new project! Reading and summarizing all of them is impossible!

That sounds overwhelming... Actually, there's a perfect tool for situations like this.

Ooh, what is it? Tell me, tell me!

It's called "NotebookLM," an AI tool provided by Google. When you upload documents, it can answer questions about them and create summaries for you.

Hmm, I see. But how is it different from regular AI chatbots? Can't ChatGPT also read documents?

Great question. NotebookLM's key feature is called "source grounding."

*Source grounding is a technology where AI treats only the uploaded information sources as ground truth and generates responses solely within that scope.

Source... grounding? That's a complicated term... What does it actually mean?

Simply put, it means the AI only answers using information from the documents you've uploaded. Regular AI chatbots use knowledge learned from the entire internet, so they sometimes state things that aren't factually accurate.

Oh, I totally get that! The other day, an AI cited a research paper that doesn't even exist!

Exactly. That's called "hallucination." NotebookLM tends to have fewer of these issues because it only references your uploaded documents.

*Hallucination refers to when generative AI produces information that isn't factual, making it sound convincing as if it were true.

I see! So since it only answers within the scope of my uploaded documents, it's harder for it to make things up!

Exactly! Plus, every response shows citations - where in your documents the information came from - making it easy to verify yourself.

That alone is amazing, but are there any other useful features?

Actually, my favorite feature is called "Audio Overview." This one is quite revolutionary...

Audio Overview? What's that?!

It automatically generates a podcast based on your uploaded documents, with two AI hosts having a conversation to explain the content!

What?! Documents become podcasts?! That's incredible!

Yes! And it's not just text-to-speech - the hosts ask each other questions and use metaphors to explain things clearly. You can understand document contents during your commute or while exercising, making great use of your time.

That's amazing...! So I can prep for meetings while getting ready in the morning...?

Exactly. Recently, various formats have become available too - "Deep Dive" for detailed explanations, "Brief" for about 2 minutes when you're short on time, and "Critique" mode when you want a critical perspective.

Amazing! This really feels like a tool from the future!

By the way, what types of documents can you upload? Just PDFs?

No, it supports quite a wide range. PDFs of course, but also Google Docs, Google Slides, website URLs, and even YouTube videos and audio files.

YouTube videos too?! So I can upload an explanation video and ask "just give me the key points"?

That's right. Just paste a YouTube URL, and it will analyze the video content. Even if you don't have time to watch a one-hour video, you can check the key points or ask questions about specific topics.

So in other words, I can gather PDFs, videos, audio, and web pages in one place and ask questions across all of them!

You catch on quick, Ete-senpai! Exactly - you can combine different format documents to gain new insights.

With all these great features, aren't there any caveats? It seems almost too good to be true...

Good thinking. There are a few things to note. First, the Audio Overview feature sometimes adds information not in the documents to make the conversation more engaging.

Really?!

Yes. So Audio Overview is great for grasping the overall atmosphere and main topics, but may not be ideal for detailed fact-checking. I recommend verifying any points of interest via text chat.

Got it... So not just "listen and done" but "listen, then verify if something catches your attention."

Exactly. Also, there's a limit of up to 50 sources per notebook and about 500,000 words per file. But for normal use, that should be plenty.

Thanks for telling me about this, Ran! I'm going to try it right away! No more fear of document mountains!

Glad I could help! Let me summarize the key points about NotebookLM...

You're the best, Ran! I feel like I can become an information organization master now!

O-oh, it's nothing... I'm happy if I could help. Please try it out!

Well then, see you next time!

See you in the next article!