Using Google NotebookLM to generate a podcast

There’s been a lot of buzz about a Google AI tool lately – Google NotebookLM – and how you can use it to create an audio overview/podcast of your content, information, files etc.

I’m always eager to try these new AI tools out and started off with a fair bit of scepticism as it was making use of Google Gemini AI – which I wasn’t too impressed with in my earlier uses of it, back in February when I did my Testing the AI chabots roundup. But I had heard that others who tried out this particular audio overview/podcast feature were blown away by it.

So I fired up the Google NotebookLM page at https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook and had a look around. I then got it to analyse my Testing the AI chabots roundup via the url – so thats kind of an AI infinite loop almost, using an AI tool to analyse a roundup of AI chatbots – I fed it the url and then waited a while for it to generate the audio overview/podcast.

I have to say the results are pretty amazing – an entertaining podcast with two hosts, discussing my AI chatbot testing and it all sounds logical – and interesting!

There were a few audio glitches here and there, plus it had a bit of a hallucination in that it mentioned a question I asked the chatbots about quantum entanglement – which I never asked – so where they got that from is a bit of a mystery – and definitely a hallucination!

You can then download the podcast as (the only option) a WAV file. Quite why WAV file is the only option I don’t know? You can also share a link to the audio overview/podcast and this is the link for mine, so you can check it out if you like:-

https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/48491eab-3ded-43fa-a19f-13f5932a85dc/audio

At the moment, you can’t give any feedback to Google on your experience using the tool which is a shame, as surely feedback would be very useful at this early stage of the tool. You can give a thumbs up or thumbs down as feedback but that’s hardly comprehensive.

Overall, I’d say this is so far the most impressive demo of what AI tools can do – even with the hallucination mentioned above.

Couldn’t recommend Pat highly enough. He goes beyond what you’d expect of a QA tester, commenting more broadly on user experience and even design. He’s quick, efficient and thorough – couldn’t ask for any more.

Rob Calvert, Director, Click

Pat performs comprehensive website testing for us, across all the main browsers and platforms, including mobile devices. His flexible approach to testing and clear feedback enable us to have confidence that the business end of our website is still working smoothly after system updates and changes.

Steve Liu, Manager, Wicked Lasers

Pat Walsh fixed my site within hours of my contacting him – his WordPress website fix service clearly works!

Douglas Green, Douglas Software

Pat Walsh provided Kingston Valdes with a professional and personable service that was excellent value. The site was built and tested quickly, we are delighted with the results, and we have already had positive feedback from some of our clients. If you’re thinking of building a new site or adapting an existing one, I’d certainly recommend speaking with Pat about it.

Kathy Valdes, Kingston Valdes

We hired Pat to help with QA of a music streaming app. We needed someone with that magic “6th sense” of where the bugs are lurking; the ones which developers tend to miss. Pat more than fulfilled this need, with highly methodical approach and a great eye for detail.

Subsequently Pat has provided QA services for a personal app project of mine, finding a significant issue which had been lurking for some time.

Pat is a real asset to any team – highly competent technically but also easy going and a great guy to work with. Highly recommended!

Andrew Ebling, Head of App Development, Composed

Pat came to Composed to respond to our (increasingly urgent) need of QA on mobile and web and I can testify he more than fulfilled the task. On the Android side, his very structured approach (first exploratory testing, then focus on defining test plans for a variety of scopes) and his clear knowledge of the latest mobile technologies have quickly paid off. He was involved directly with the developers (including myself) and this very dynamic relationship enabled us to annihilate bugs swiftly and efficiently.

David Ferrand, Android Developer, Composed

We’ve worked with Pat Walsh on a number of very different projects, from interactive video projects to mobile apps. His work is very thorough and has quickly become an essential and important phase of all the production work we do at Storythings. He’s thorough, diligent, and a pleasure to work with.

Matt Locke, Director, Storythings

Pat has been absolutely incredible at testing each of our projects he works on. He’s very professional, organised and diligent. I look forward to using him again in the future.

Oliver Thurtle, Director of Technology, Drum

Pat is an excellent one-stop-shop for testing Apps and Websites. He is a self-starter who just knows what needs to be done and gets on with it, and is responsive to requests for any specific testing requirements. He provides test plans and reports as a matter of course and was a pleasure to work with. I will definitely be working with Pat again if the opportunity arises.

Andrew Birley, PM, Storythings

Using Google NotebookLM to generate a podcast

Using Google NotebookLM to generate a podcast

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