Google NotebookLM Gets Four New Audio Overviews Formats With New AI Voices

Google's NotebookLM is receiving a new update that allows users to generate Audio Overviews of their sources in different formats. On Tuesday, the Mountain View-based tech giant announced that the podcast-style audio discussion feature will be available in four new formats, including Deep Dive, Brief, Critique, and Debate. The company also highlighted that the new formats feature new voices powered by artificial intelligence (AI), but did not provide additional details. The update is currently rolling out to all users of the platform.

NotebookLM Audio Overviews Now Offer More Customisation

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Google announced that the popular Audio Overviews can now be customised in four different formats. The basic feature remains the same, where one or more AI hosts discuss the sources selected by the user in a podcast-style conversation; however, the presentation of the information can now be changed.

The four Audio Overviews format in NotebookLM
Photo Credit: NotebookLM

The new feature will be available to all users across all supported 80 languages. The company said the global rollout will be complete by the end of this week. Gadgets 360 staff members were able to access and briefly test out the new NotebookLM feature.

Deep Dive is the original format that has been available to users so far. It features two AI hosts who discuss and unpack the topic in a conversation. The Brief format offers a bite-sized overview of the topic to help users get a quick understanding of the topic.

Critique, the third new format, is designed to offer an expert review of the user's sources. This mode is more useful when a user wants constructive feedback on a school essay, thesis, or assess resources for a research project. Finally, the Debate format features two AI hosts with opposing viewpoints to bring out the different perspectives from the selected sources.

To select different Audio Overviews formats, users will have to click the pencil icon added to the feature's badge. This opens a pop-up box where the four formats can be seen. Users can adjust the length of these formats to generate an audio of the desired length. Additionally, the box also lets users select the language to generate the audio in. As with Deep Dive, audios of all formats can be downloaded as well.

Notably, the Brief and Critique audio modes feature only a single AI host, whereas Deep Dive and Debate feature two AI hosts. NotebookLM mentioned in a separate post that each format includes new AI voices, but did not provide any details about the differences between the voices.