Google's NotebookLM Upgraded With Cinematic Video Overviews Feature

NotebookLM is one of Google's most frequently updated artificial intelligence (AI) products. In the last few months, the AI-powered learning platform has received a large number of new features across the website and mobile apps. But on Wednesday, the Mountain View-based tech giant released one of the biggest upgrades to NotebookLM with the Cinematic Video Overviews feature. The new mode finally enables the generation of fully immersive, animated videos. Notably, earlier Video Overviews could only generate multiple static slides for users.

NotebookLM Gets Cinematic Video Overviews

In a blog post, Pete Aykroyd, a Software Engineer in Google's NotebookLM team, announced the new feature. Among the highly requested features from users, Cinematic Video Overviews lets select users generate fully animated videos from their sources. This is a major shift from the existing narrated slides in Video Overviews, and makes watching the AI-generated videos an immersive experience.

Under the hood, the feature is powered by a combination of Gemini 3, Nano Banana Pro, and Veo 3 AI models. The tech giant highlighted that Gemini works as a creative director and creates the video script and prompt, adding structural and stylistic details that best suit the video. “It determines the best narrative, visual style and format, and even refines its own work to ensure consistency,” the post added.

Currently, the feature is only available to the Google AI Ultra subscribers in the English language, meaning it won't work for sources that are in another language. Cinematic Video Overviews is available to users above the age of 18 across the website and the mobile apps. In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the official handle of NotebookLM said, “To our faithful Pro users— don't worry, we haven't forgotten about you. You've always been part of our roadmap. No promises on timing yet, but watch this space!”

Earlier this month, the AI-powered learning platform released custom styles for Infographics. The new feature added 10 preset options and the ability to create custom styles. The feature is aimed at letting users create easy-to-read visuals with a single click. Further, the company has also rolled out Slide Revisions to the mobile app.