NotebookLM: the best AI tool for learning and studying

by Stélio Inácio, Founder at Jon AI and AI Specialist

My Favorite AI Tool: A Love Letter to NotebookLM

I love NotebookLM. I say that without hesitation because every so often, a tool comes along that isn't just an iteration on what came before, but a fundamental leap in how we approach a problem. For anyone who works with information—students, researchers, writers, lifelong learners—NotebookLM is that leap. It takes the concept we just discussed, "talking to your documents," and builds an entire, elegant, and powerful experience around that one superpower.

Think of it this way: if ChatGPT is a brilliant conversationalist who has read a public library, NotebookLM is your personal, dedicated research assistant, sitting in your private study, surrounded only by the books and documents you have given it. It is, in my opinion, the single best AI tool for learning and studying available today.

The Superpower: Grounded in Your Sources

The magic of NotebookLM lies in one simple, non-negotiable rule: it will only use the sources you provide. When you ask it a question, it cannot and will not search the web or tap into its general knowledge. It is "grounded" in your materials. This means it is virtually immune to AI "hallucinations" (making things up). It can't invent facts because it's only allowed to read from the "textbooks" you've uploaded. This makes it an incredibly reliable and trustworthy study partner.

A Tour of NotebookLM's Key Features

NotebookLM is more than just a chat interface; it's a suite of tools designed for deep engagement with your material.

Multi-Source Intelligence: You can upload up to 20 different sources per notebook—PDFs, Google Docs, copied text, website links—and the AI can find connections and synthesize ideas across all of them at once.
Automatic Summaries & Guides: Once you upload your sources, NotebookLM automatically generates summaries, key topics, and even a table of contents, giving you an instant overview of your material.
AI-Generated Study Aids: With a single click, you can ask NotebookLM to create helpful formats like a full Study Guide, a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), a Briefing Document, or a Timeline based on your sources.
Inline Citations: This is crucial for academic integrity and fact-checking. Every single answer NotebookLM provides includes numbered citations that take you to the exact passage in your source document where it found the information.
Audio Overviews (in Multiple Languages!): This is a game-changing feature for auditory learners or for reviewing material on the go. NotebookLM can generate a podcast-style conversation about your sources, summarizing the key points in a natural, spoken format. This feature now supports many languages, making it accessible to users all over the world.

Try This Now: Create Your First Audio Overview

The best way to understand NotebookLM is to use it. We are going to take the previous lesson, "The Art of the Ask: How to Get the Best Answers from AI," and turn it into an audio podcast summary using NotebookLM.

Copy the lesson content below. Click the button to copy the raw text of the previous lesson to your clipboard.
The Art of the Ask: How to Get the Best Answers from AI Imagine you have commissioned the world's greatest artist to paint a masterpiece for you. If you simply say, "Paint something," you'll get a surprise, but it probably won't be what you were hoping for. If, however, you say, "I want a painting of a quiet, rainy street in Paris at dusk, in a shimmering, impressionistic style like Monet," you are going to get something much closer to your vision. Talking to an AI chatbot works the exact same way. The quality of the answer you get is directly proportional to the quality of the question you ask. This is the art of the ask, often called "prompting." It's the skill of giving the AI the perfect instructions to get the perfect result. The Golden Rule: Garbage In, Garbage Out In the world of computing, there's a timeless principle: "Garbage In, Garbage Out." An AI is not a mind reader. If you give it a vague, lazy prompt, it will give you a vague, lazy answer. It has to make assumptions about who you are, what you know, and what you want. But if you provide clear, detailed instructions, you unlock its true power. Key Concept: Always provide Context Always give information on what is happening, why do you need what you are asking or what you are about to do. When you give context you are automatically selecting a persona from the AI that the AI can use, remember, the AI has millions of personas. An AI chatbot is like an actor with millions of roles memorized. If you just say "Give me some lines," the actor has to guess which role to play. But if you provide context—"We're shooting a scene for a pirate movie where the captain discovers treasure"—the actor knows exactly which persona to adopt. The Recipe for a Great Prompt Instead of a rigid formula, think of a great prompt as a recipe with key ingredients. The more you include, the better the final dish will be. The goal is to paint a clear picture for the AI. The Goal (Why): Explain the purpose of your request. What are you trying to achieve? ("I need to prepare for a performance review...") The Audience (Who it's for): Who will be reading or using the output? This dramatically changes the tone, style, and complexity. ("...the summary needs to be understood by a non-technical sales team.") The Constraints (How): Define the rules. Specify the desired format (bullet points, table), tone (formal, witty), and length (under 200 words). ("...in a professional but friendly tone, formatted as bullet points.") Prompt Examples: From Weak to Strong Let's see the difference in practice. Notice how the strong prompts provide rich context, which implicitly tells the AI what persona to adopt. Scenario 1: Writing an Email Weak Prompt "Write an email to my team." Strong Prompt "I need to write a short, friendly email to my development team about 'Project Phoenix.' The goal is to update them that the deadline is moving from July 1st to July 8th because of new client requirements. It's important to keep the tone positive and motivating, and to stress that their work has been excellent." Scenario 2: Brainstorming Ideas Weak Prompt "Give me some blog post ideas." Strong Prompt "My company sells high-end indoor plants online, and our target audience is millennials in small apartments. I need 10 catchy, SEO-friendly blog post titles. The topics should focus on challenges this audience faces, like finding low-maintenance or pet-safe plants, and creative ways to display them in a small space." Scenario 3: Learning a New Topic (Explicit Persona Shortcut) Weak Prompt "Explain blockchain." Strong Prompt "Act as a friendly and knowledgeable science teacher. Explain the concept of blockchain to me as if I am a complete beginner with no technical background. Use a simple analogy involving a shared, public notebook to explain how transactions are recorded and secured. Break the explanation down into three key concepts." Key Concept: Don't Generate but Manipulate Do not use AI to generate intelligence from scratch. Instead, use it to manipulate your existing intelligence. So dump as much as you think and know so the AI can help you.
Go to NotebookLM. Open a new tab and navigate to the NotebookLM website. Sign up with your Google account (it's free).
Create a notebook. Click "New Notebook" and give it a name like "AI Course Lessons."
Add the lesson as a source. Inside your new notebook, click "+ Add Source," choose "Copied text," and paste the content you copied from here.
Generate the audio overview. Once NotebookLM processes the source, it will suggest actions. Click on "Audio overview." It will take a minute to generate a podcast-style conversation summarizing the lesson for you. Listen to it!
Ask it questions! After listening, use the chat box at the bottom to ask questions *about the lesson*. For example, try asking: "What are the ingredients of a great prompt?" or "What is vibe coding?" Notice how it answers using only the information from the lesson text.

Pro Tip: Use NotebookLM for This Entire Course

Now that you have your "AI Course Lessons" notebook, I strongly encourage you to do this for any other lessons in this course that you find particularly interesting or complex. Create audio overviews to listen to later, or use it to generate a study guide before the chapter quizzes. It's the ultimate way to make this course your own and master the material.

Quick Check

What is the most important feature of NotebookLM that makes it an incredibly reliable tool for studying and research?

A) Its ability to generate creative images and videos.

B) It is "grounded" in your sources, meaning it can only use the documents you upload to answer questions, which prevents it from making things up.

C) Its connection to Google Search for real-time information.

Recap: NotebookLM - The Best AI Tool for Learning and Studying

What we covered:

NotebookLM is a specialized AI tool designed for studying and research using your own documents.
Its superpower is that it's "grounded" in your sources, preventing it from making things up and providing cited answers.
Its key features include multi-source analysis, automatic summaries, and AI-generated study aids like FAQs and timelines.
The "Audio Overview" feature can turn your study materials into a personal podcast, now available in many languages.

Why it matters:

NotebookLM transforms studying from a passive act of reading into an active conversation. It helps you engage with, question, and deeply understand your material in a way that was never before possible.

Next up:

From text to voice: We'll explore the incredible world of AI-powered audio tools, focusing on ElevenLabs and its ability to turn any text into super-realistic voice.

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