Google's NotebookLM just got a major upgrade. The AI research tool that went viral for turning documents into surprisingly convincing podcast conversations now has Video Overviews — essentially visual versions of those popular Audio Overviews that transform your sources into narrated slides with diagrams and quotes.
Key Points
- Video Overviews convert dense docs into slide-style videos with diagrams, quotes, and a built-in narrator
- Rolling out in English first, with more languages soon
- Revamped Studio panel stores multiple Audio / Video Overviews, Mind Maps, and Reports per project
Video Overviews are essentially the visual twin of the app’s popular Audio Overviews. Instead of a podcast-style chat between two AI hosts, you get a narrated deck that pulls in fresh graphics, charts, and call-out quotes straight from your sources. Google says that makes it easier to explain processes, walk through data, or simplify abstract theories.
Like the audio version, you can steer the script. Tell the presenter to focus on chapter three, aim the lesson at first-year med students, or skip over material you already know; NotebookLM regenerates the slides on the fly.
Early testers will notice YouTube-style controls: a 10-second skip button and variable playback speeds turn the slideshow into something closer to a mini-lecture you can scrub through.
Google also made some upgrades to the Studio pane. Instead of one audio overview per notebook, you can now spin up endless ones—say, a Spanish Audio Overview for classmates, an English Video Overview for yourself, plus chapter-by-chapter Mind Maps—then keep them in a tidy list. Four big tiles (Audio, Video, Mind Map, Report) sit up top for quick creation, and you can even listen to an Audio Overview while poking around a Mind Map.
NotebookLM's core appeal lies in its "grounding" approach — it only uses sources you upload, preventing the hallucinations common in other AI tools. It's powered by Gemini 2.0 Flash with a massive 2 million token context window, allowing it to handle documents as large as 630 pages.
That focus on source-grounded responses has helped differentiate NotebookLM in an increasingly crowded market of AI research tools. While competitors like Notion and Obsidian offer flexibility and customization, and Perplexity excels at web search, NotebookLM carves out a unique niche by turning your specific documents into interactive, multimedia summaries.
The tool has found particular traction among researchers, students, and professionals who need to digest large amounts of information quickly. Users have praised its ability to transform tedious research processes into engaging, accessible formats, whether that's summarizing academic papers or creating training materials for new team members.
Google's also been steadily removing barriers to adoption. The company dropped NotebookLM's "Experimental" label in October 2024 and launched NotebookLM Plus for businesses and power users. The free version allows up to 100 notebooks with 50 sources each, while Plus bumps that to 500 notebooks with 300 sources each.
The updates signal Google's commitment to NotebookLM as more than just a research experiment. By adding visual capabilities and improving the core user experience, the company's positioning the tool to compete more directly with established productivity platforms while maintaining its unique AI-first approach.