Happy New Year! Welcome to the first LA-AI newsletter of 2026!
We've got a lot of ground to cover this year, and I'm excited to dig in. Let's get to it. Speaking of which...
At last week's LA-AI meetup, Michael Beauchamp showed us something that made the whole room smile. He'd asked NotebookLM to create a guide for making a bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich based on his very detailed instructions. What came back wasn't a simple recipe, it was a multi-page presentation complete with an infographic. For a breakfast sandwich.
NotebookLM is Google's free AI research assistant. Upload a PDF, Google Doc, YouTube video, audio file, or website URL, and the system becomes an expert on that specific content. It answers questions, generates summaries, creates study guides, builds timelines, and produces slide presentations—all from your sources.
How It's Different
ChatGPT draws from massive training data, which means it knows a little about everything but can confidently make things up. NotebookLM only answers based on sources you provide. Every response includes citations linking to the exact passage in your document. Click one and you see the original text highlighted. This grounding reduces hallucinations and makes fact-checking simple.
Your uploaded content stays private and isn't used for training. You control exactly what the AI can access.
Presentations and Guides
Need to turn a dense 50-page report into something your team will read? Upload it and ask for a summary with key takeaways. The tool generates infographics, slide decks with speaker notes, and step-by-step guides.
The Data Table feature pulls scattered information into structured tables you can export to Google Sheets. Useful for comparing vendor proposals or analyzing feedback from multiple sources.
Custom Personas
A recent update expanded the customization limit to 10,000 characters—enough to create detailed personas that shape how the AI responds. You could set up a "Skeptical Reviewer" to find holes in your business plan, or a "Customer Service Trainer" that explains your documentation at a beginner level. The persona stays grounded in your documents, so even a critical personality sticks to facts you've provided.
Audio Overviews
Upload any document, click a button, and minutes later you have a podcast-style discussion. Two AI hosts talk through your material, using analogies and highlighting what matters most. Download as MP3 and listen anywhere.
The standard "Deep Dive" is just one option. "Brief" delivers key takeaways in under two minutes. "Critique" has hosts evaluate your material constructively which can be useful for feedback on drafts. "Debate" presents opposing viewpoints on a topic.
Interactive Mode lets you join the conversation. Ask a question with your voice, and the hosts pause to answer you before continuing.
Getting Started
Head to notebooklm.google.com and sign in with your Google account. The free tier supports 50 sources per notebook, each up to 500,000 words. That covers most projects. The Plus plan ($19.99/month) bumps you to 300 sources with early access to new features but most people won't need it.
The Key Limitation
NotebookLM only knows what you feed it. It won't pull from the internet or fill gaps with general knowledge. Think of it as a research assistant who reads everything you hand them and becomes expert on that material. They won't Google things for you, but they'll answer any question about your documents instantly.
For anyone drowning in reports, research, or proposals, that's a useful assistant. And as Michael proved, you can even use it to master the art of the breakfast sandwich.
