Google Expands NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews Feature in More Than 50 Languages

Google announced the expansion of the Audio Overviews feature in NotebookLM on Tuesday. The artificial intelligence (AI) feature can create an engaging podcast-style audio discussion on any topic as long as a source is added to a note. Audio Overviews feature two AI hosts, a male and a female voice, who discuss the topic, react to it, and contextualise the information in a conversational manner. This NotebookLM feature is now being expanded to more than 50 different languages by Google.

NotebookLM's Audio Overviews Is Now Available in Hindi

NotebookLM was first released in June 2024 as a research assistant. Users can upload documents, Web URLs, and copy-paste text as sources. Based on these sources, the platform can generate summaries, briefs, study guides, and frequently asked questions (FAQs). A Gemini-powered chatbot can also answer user queries about the topic.

While useful, the platform did not gain much popularity till September 2024, when the Mountain View-based tech giant added a unique feature dubbed Audio Overviews to it. The tool that could turn any document into an audio podcast instantly made the platform popular among users.

So far, Audio Overviews could only generate audio sessions in the English language. However, in a blog post, Google has now announced that the AI feature will be available in more than 50 languages. Some of these languages include Afrikaans, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), French, Hindi, Malayalam, Portuguese, Russian, and Tamil.

To change the output language, users need to go to Settings and locate Output Language. In the new menu, users can navigate to the top-right corner to update the language. Notably, by default, the Output Language is set to the user's Google Account language.

Google highlights that non-English language support is currently available in beta, and as such, it is prone to making mistakes. Users should double-check the generated audio for any inaccuracies.

Highlighting use cases of the new expansion, the tech giant said that it can help teachers share study resources with students in a variety of languages. These students can then generate an Audio Overview of the key insights in their preferred language. Additionally, the tool will also enable content creators to create non-English content online.