Project Tailwind sets sail with NotebookLM – an AI for Students
Being a lifelong learner is something I take a lot of pride in. I’m always looking at research papers or even opportunities to go back to school to do another X or Y thing on my list of interests. But, there are a lot of challenges in that and I don’t just mean the obvious financial ones. But the ones that you may not be aware of – like having learning disabilities like I have.
School, especially when I was a baby Spec – was very hard for me because, in a lot of cases, I couldn’t distinguish what was important about a specific text I was reading or would forget explanations after my classes ended. While the internet was certainly a thing when I was growing up (although it was a novelty) it wasn’t used as widely as it is used now to fuel everything we do.
So Project Tailwind has always held a particular interest for me.
For the uninitiated, Google has unveiled NotebookLM, its first AI experiment that aims to revolutionize notetaking. Formerly known as Project Tailwind, the new feature offers users more control over their notes, allowing them to select who can view them and how long they remain visible. All while having access to the power of AI that is at the heart of its application.
NotebookLM boasts a powerful language model at its core, transforming the notetaking experience into what is toted to be a “personalized virtual research assistant”. Users can enjoy the benefits of summarized facts, explanations of complex ideas, and creative connections based on their chosen subject or what class they are taking.
Source: Google
One of the key features of NotebookLM is “grounding,” which allows users to connect the AI to specific Google Docs. This enables users to dive deeper into documents and ask questions related to the content they have uploaded. So an example of this could be when attaching several research articles on menstruation, the user can ask the AI to return a list of organs that make up a reproduction system.
To enhance credibility and reduce misinformation, NotebookLM provides citations and original quotes from selected sources in its responses. User feedback is crucial in refining the experiment, and Google Labs is actively seeking insights to make NotebookLM a useful and responsible tool. After all, AI is only ever as good as the stuff you teach it. The better we are at giving it correct and factual information the better it will be at giving that back.
Overall, NotebookLM promises to be a game-changer in the notetaking landscape, offering users an intelligent, personalized, and secure solution for managing information effectively. As the experiment progresses, Google is committed to developing a product that meets user needs while adhering to the highest standards of AI ethics and privacy protection. So no information will be tracked by Google because of users using NotebookLM.