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Free for ASU students, faculty, and staff

NotebookLM

Overview

NotebookLM, developed by Google, is an AI-powered research and note-taking tool that helps students, faculty, and researchers understand and organize information. It uses the Gemini model to process materials you upload, such as lecture notes, research papers, articles, or videos. The tool can generate summaries, extract key insights, and answer questions based on your content, reducing the risk of incorrect or unrelated responses. NotebookLM functions as a personalized assistant that supports deep thinking, research management, and idea development.

Who can use this product?

ASU students, faculty, and staff can use NotebookLM at no cost.

Ready to get started with NotebookLM?

ASU students, faculty, and staff can use this tool by visiting the NotebookLM app and signing in with SSO.Use NotebookLM

Quick steps to start using NotebookLM

  1. Go to notebooklm.google.com and sign in with your ASURITE email.
  2. Select "+ Create new notebook".
  3. Add your sources in the pop-up window.
    1. You can also add more sources later in the left sidebar.
  4. Type a prompt in the center chat box to learn more about your sources.

  5. Generate different informational outputs in the right sidebar.


    The user interface of NotebookLM

Example use case

A student needs to review a few course readings and wants help summarizing the main points.

Steps

  1. Go to notebooklm.google.com and sign in.
  2. Create a new notebook.
  3. Upload one or more sources about the subject, such as PDFs, lecture notes, and URLs.
  4. Ask a question such as “What is this about?” or “Give me a summary.”
  5. Read the response and double-check the sources it uses.

Additional resources

Explore AI foundations & tools

More about NotebookLM

Google asserts that NotebookLM does not utilize personal user data, including uploaded sources, queries, and generated content, for the training of its underlying AI models. When accessed via an ASU Google Workspace account, NotebookLM adheres to the established privacy policies governing other Google Workspace applications. 

  • Grounded answers: Responses are only based on the documents you upload, helping reduce misinformation or off-topic results.
  • Multimodal input: You can upload a wide range of materials, including PDFs, Google Docs, lecture notes, audio files, and even YouTube links.
  • Custom study tools: NotebookLM can help create summaries, timelines, study guides, and questions tailored to your content.
  • Time-saving support: It helps you quickly understand, organize, and revisit complex materials.
  • Collaboration-friendly: You can share notebooks with others for group work or joint research.

  • Requires Internet: Needs internet access to function optimally.
  • Not always perfect: While it cites sources, you’ll still want to double-check its responses for accuracy.
  • Limited formatting support: Some PDFs or slides with complex formatting may not process cleanly.
  • Still evolving: Features such as audio summaries may feel experimental at times.

  • Preparing for class: Summarize readings or generate questions to bring to a discussion.
  • Studying efficiently: Turn notes into study guides or flashcards.
  • Understanding research: Break down dense papers and compare multiple sources.
  • Group work: Share notebooks to collaborate on projects or presentations.
  • Faculty prep: Organize course materials or explore how students might engage with texts.

  • Join the AI community Slack channel at #ai.
  • Call the ASU Experience Center at (480) 965-6500 or 1-855-278-5080.

  • Google has an ambitious plan to be Net-zero carbon by 2030.
  • Google's emissions have been rising across Google's entire business portfolio, and many people attribute this to AI infrastructure.
  • ASU is committed to sustainable AI use and has numerous initiatives focused on sustainable AI use:
    • ASU Community Education
    • Faculty Research
    • Multiple-Model access to allow lower energy models to be used

For more information on the ethical use of AI, visit the Provost Office's Generative AI page and ASU's Digital Trust Guidelines.

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