Image by Marco Migorança Migorança from Pixabay
Imagine this: you’ve got a mountain of research, articles, PDFs, and notes staring back at you. Instead of sifting through it all, what if AI could pull the best bits and hand you a podcast-style summary? Magic, right? Well, thanks to tools like STORM and NotebookLM, it’s more than possible—it’s a breeze!
In this post, I’m going to show you how to harness the power of these two AI wizards to take your research from the page (or PDF or website) to your earbuds—turning hours of reading into minutes of listening. And here’s the kicker—it took me less than 10 minutes to pull off a podcast-style summary using both tools.
Ready to dive in? Let’s explore how these tools can transform your workflow, whether you’re a teacher looking for new ways to engage students, a student cramming for exams, or just AI-curious and want to supercharge your content game.
What Exactly Are STORM and NotebookLM?
STORM is an AI genius built to help you gather and organize massive amounts of info. (It’s a project of Stanford Open Virtual Assistant Lab). Think of it as your personal research assistant, whipping up “Wikipedia-style” summaries, complete with footnotes. It’s perfect for digging into deep topics, whether you’re writing a post, preparing a lesson plan, or pulling together materials for your next class.
On the other hand, NotebookLM—Google’s brainchild—takes all that research (or any other text you throw at it, like webpages, PDFs, or slides) and creates engaging, podcast-style audio summaries. It’s like turning your research into a conversation—perfect for auditory learners, multitaskers, or anyone who just prefers listening over reading.
But the real magic happens when you combine these two tools. STORM sets up the content, and NotebookLM turns it into something you can listen to on your next walk.
Here’s How to Use STORM and NotebookLM (a.k.a. The Dynamic AI Duo)
Step 1: Research and Create with STORM
Let’s say you’re working on a project, lesson plan, or maybe an essay. Fire up STORM and let it gather and synthesize all your research into a tidy, well-organized summary. It’s like having an assistant that never takes a break.
- Pro Tip: Keep your prompts simple. You don’t want to confuse your AI buddy!
STORM does all the heavy lifting by pulling in key information, then creating a Wikipedia-style summary (footnotes and all!). Once you’re happy with your summary, download it as a PDF, and you’re ready for the next step.
Step 2: Summarize and Transform with NotebookLM
Now that you’ve got your research sorted, it’s time to add a little more AI magic. Upload your PDF to NotebookLM (it also works with public YouTube URLs and audio files directly into your notebook, and PDFs, Google Docs, Slides, websites – add as many as you want). From here, NotebookLM can create a variety of summaries. Including:
- FAQs
- Study guides
- Table of contents
- Timeline
- Briefing document (main theme, most important ideas, conclusion)
But my favorite output is: NotebookLM turns your content into an audio summary that sounds like a conversation between two chirpy AI hosts.
On Dec 13, 2024 Google announced some updates to the look and function.
From the start, we wanted NotebookLM to be a tool that would let you move effortlessly from asking questions to reading your sources to capturing your own ideas. Today, we’re rolling out a new design that makes it easier than ever to switch between those different activities in a single, unified interface.
The redesign organizes NotebookLM into three areas. The “Sources” panel manages all the information that’s central to your project. The “Chat” panel lets you discuss your sources through a conversational AI interface with citations. The “Studio” panel lets you create new things from your sources with a single click, like Study Guides, Briefing Docs and Audio Overviews.
This design also fluidly adapts to your needs. For example, you can expand the source viewer and notes editor side by side if you want to take notes on an important document, or you can ask questions in the chat while listening to an Audio Overview.
Join and interact with the AI hosts in Audio Overview
Today, we’re starting to roll out the ability to “join” the conversation. Using your voice, you can ask the hosts for more details or to explain a concept differently. It’s like having a personal tutor or guide who listens attentively, and then responds directly, drawing from the knowledge in your sources. Here’s how you can use it:
- Create a new Audio Overview.
- Tap the new Interactive mode (BETA) button and hit play.
- While listening, tap “Join.” A host will call on you.
- Ask your question!
Fun and Creative Use Cases
Let’s get creative! Here are some ways to use STORM and NotebookLM beyond just summarizing research:
- Study Aids: Turn your notes or textbook summaries into quick audio sessions to review while you’re on the go. Perfect for prepping for exams without sitting at your desk.
- Lesson Recaps: Teachers, imagine turning your daily lesson summaries into a podcast for your students. They can catch up on the go, ensuring they stay on track.
- Interactive Class Discussions: Students can upload class notes and turn them into audio summaries to share with classmates—perfect for group study sessions or reinforcing what’s been covered in class.
- Meeting Recaps: Don’t have time to re-read meeting notes? Turn your minutes into audio form and catch up while you’re commuting or making dinner.
- Book Summaries: Summarize key insights from books you’re reading (whether for class or pleasure), so you can “read” while you’re doing something else.
Why Audio Summaries are a Game-Changer
Turning written content into audio isn’t just about convenience—it’s about making your work more accessible and engaging. Podcasts are perfect for multitasking (commuting, anyone?), and the conversational format keeps listeners hooked. With NotebookLM, you can even involve your audience by integrating voice messages, making the experience more interactive.
With STORM organizing your research and NotebookLM turning that content into an engaging audio experience, the days of drowning in text are behind you. Whether you’re a teacher, student, or just looking for a way to streamline your learning workflow, these tools will give you a fresh way to interact with your content.
