NotebookLM, Google's AI note-taking app, can now summarize YouTube videos and help you dive deeper into them. The new feature analyzes the text in the transcript of a YouTube video, including automatically generated text.
Once you add a YouTube link to NotebookLM, it uses AI to provide a brief summary of the key topics covered in the transcript. You can then click on these topics to get more detailed information and ask questions. (If you're having trouble finding a question, NotebookLM suggests some questions.)
When I passed by The edgeNotebookLM's iPhone 16 Pro test generated topics like “Apple Intelligence,” “iPhone 16 Pro camera,” and “photo processing” in its chat window, which were discussed in the video.
After clicking on some of the topics, I discovered that NotebookLM backs up the information provided in its chat window with a quote that takes you directly to the place in the transcript where it is mentioned. You can also create an audio overview based on the content, which is a podcast-style AI-moderated discussion.
I've found the feature to work on most videos I've tried, with the exception of videos published in the last two days or so.
While both Google's Gemini and Microsoft's Copilot can summarize YouTube videos with transcripts, NotebookLM gives you some starting points you can use to learn more about a topic. In addition to support for YouTube videos, Google announced that NotebookLM now supports audio recordings, allowing you to search transcribed conversations for specific information and create study guides.