For those who are new to Google's AI project, NotebookLM serves as a research assistant platform that allows users to upload documents. It utilizes Gemini 1.5 pro to prioritize notetaking when interacting with the information extracted from these documents. NotebookLM summarizes all uploaded documents in the user's notebook and enables users to pose questions regarding the content. After processing the data, NotebookLM provides answers along with relevant citations from the uploaded files. One of its standout features is the capability to create podcasts based on the uploaded documents. The podcasts, generated by Gemini, feature AI-curated information and consist of audio discussions between two speakers about the topics found in the materials, with segments lasting between five and thirty minutes. However, some users might hesitate to upload their content to a proprietary large language model (LLM), which is where Open NotebookLM presents a different option.
A User-Friendly Alternative
Open NotebookLM offers a simple and user-friendly interface, constructed using various open-source and text-to-speech technologies to convert PDFs into podcasts. For PDF processing, it employs Llama 3.1, which has a character limit of 100,000. While it may not match Gemini's capabilities, MeloTTS delivers reliable text-to-speech performance, allowing users to modify the AI's tone to be either "fun" or "formal." Furthermore, Open NotebookLM is compatible with just over ten languages, including Spanish, French, and German among its selections. Users can currently experiment with the project on Chua's Hugging Face page or compile it locally using the resources provided on the project's GitHub repository.
Accessing the Project
Gabriel Chua can be found on both Hugging Face and GitHub, where users can explore the Open NotebookLM project further.
