I've now had a chance to play with NotebookLM again, inspired by this post and an exchange of comments with you @Daniel Nest. It is much more impressive and useful than when I first poked around it months ago. I would add two limitations, or maybe my own wish list items. Those are:
1) It needs a mobile app - so much of my note taking / note reviewing is on my phone
2) It would be great if you could link to notes within it
I'm personally not too bothered by the lack of an app, because I see NotebookLM as more of a deep research tool than a quick on-the-go notetaker.
But I'd love a feature where you could use a URL as a source, so instead of copy-pasting the text from a web page, I could simply link to it and have NotebookLM grab the text. (Then again, I'm sure there are some more legal hurdles involved in that.)
I see it more as a research tool too, as I do with most/all the AI apps I use. I just want that lovely research to be available to me on my phone as well.
Dumb question (hey, it's tradition!): is there any advantage to using NotebookLM if I already have Gemini? It seems like Notebook is fantastic for looking at your documents... is Gemini equal or better in all categories? Any key edges?
If you're using the freely available Gemini Pro, then yeah: The advantage is pretty much all the features of NotebookLM. With Gemini Pro, you only get the "Chat" piece of the puzzle. I can't see any options to add even a single document as a source (only images), so forget about parsing information across sources. And there's no space to keep notes, etc.
But if you mean you've upgraded to Gemini Advanced, then that kind of gives you the "Notes" feature in that it brings Gemini to your individual Google Docs, etc. But does it combine information from multiple soruces? If so, then perhaps it can do largely the same as NotebookLM (with a better underlying LLM to boot).
I guess it's "Gemini Advanced." Sorry, I don't even know the names of the services I use!
I do know things about how they work, though.
Right now, I can ask Gemini to look into my Google docs for things and tell me about them. It's not like shocking or profound, but I've only tested that the functionality is there. If you want to give me a really simple test I can run, I'll try it and report back.
That sounds pretty neat! I wonder how well it handles pulling information from your entire library of documents on a specific subject and turning it into a coherent overview. So if you try that and have some observations, I'd be curious to hear them.
I played for a few mnutes, but the system seems overwhelmed by the number of documents and emails it has to sort through. it's also not looking at spreadsheets. I could probably try running a multiple document upload test, though. That's what I'm more curious about right now (although I certainly crave that greater functionality).
So, Gemini doesn't seem to let me upload PDFs. However, I ran an experiment in ChatGPT (4) where I asked this:
Can you check these out and tell me a list of 3 similiarities and 3 differences in the main message of these?
I uploaded a Buffett shareholder letter from 2022 and one from 1965. Here's what our homie got:
Based on the information extracted from the Berkshire Hathaway letter and the Buffett Partnership letters, here are three similarities and three differences in their main messages:
Similarities:
Focus on Long-Term Value Creation: Both sets of letters emphasize the importance of focusing on long-term value creation rather than short-term market fluctuations. Warren Buffett consistently highlights the significance of investing in businesses with favorable economic characteristics and trustworthy management.
Investment Philosophy: The letters reflect a consistent investment philosophy that prioritizes understanding the businesses they invest in, whether through full ownership or stock ownership. This approach is based on the economic performance of the businesses rather than market speculation.
Trust and Partnership: Both letters underscore the trust and partnership between Warren Buffett, his partners, and shareholders. There is a clear emphasis on managing others' savings responsibly and with a sense of stewardship, emphasizing the relationship over mere financial transactions.
Differences:
Scope and Scale of Investments: The Buffett Partnership letters focus on more specific investment strategies and the operational aspects of managing a smaller investment partnership. In contrast, the Berkshire Hathaway letters discuss broader strategic issues and the performance of a large conglomerate with a diverse range of businesses and investments.
Investment Opportunities and Constraints: The Buffett Partnership letters mention the constraints and opportunities unique to its size and investment approach, such as the focus on "generals," "work-outs," and "controls." The Berkshire Hathaway letter, however, discusses investments in major publicly-traded companies and wholly-owned subsidiaries, reflecting a different scale and scope of investment opportunities.
Performance Measurement and Reporting: The Buffett Partnership letters provide detailed comparisons of their performance against the Dow Jones Industrial Average and discuss specific investment cases in detail. The Berkshire Hathaway letter, while still providing performance data, tends to focus more on the principles behind the investments and the broader economic value created, rather than detailed performance metrics against market indices.
These similarities and differences reflect the evolution of Warren Buffett's investment approach and responsibilities as he transitioned from managing a partnership focused on specific investment strategies to leading a large conglomerate with a broad investment portfolio.
Yeah I have access to ChatGPT Plus myself, and it's solid for uploading documents and talking about them.
But what's missing for me there is the space to work with notes, extract and save its feedback, etc. It's basically one long neverending chat thread, that will eventually get buried among the many other chats in the left sidebar.
That's what NotebookLM solves: Having a single workspace to keep track of notes and research on a single topic and go back and forth with them, then draft something based on that.
You can do this with ChatGPT (or any other chatbot) but only if you combine it with a separate tool that gives you a place to extract its responses and organize them, which can quicly become a hassle.
I've now had a chance to play with NotebookLM again, inspired by this post and an exchange of comments with you @Daniel Nest. It is much more impressive and useful than when I first poked around it months ago. I would add two limitations, or maybe my own wish list items. Those are:
1) It needs a mobile app - so much of my note taking / note reviewing is on my phone
2) It would be great if you could link to notes within it
Cool to hear you're experiencing the same thing!
I'm personally not too bothered by the lack of an app, because I see NotebookLM as more of a deep research tool than a quick on-the-go notetaker.
But I'd love a feature where you could use a URL as a source, so instead of copy-pasting the text from a web page, I could simply link to it and have NotebookLM grab the text. (Then again, I'm sure there are some more legal hurdles involved in that.)
I see it more as a research tool too, as I do with most/all the AI apps I use. I just want that lovely research to be available to me on my phone as well.
Thanks for writing this comprehensive summary, Daniel. Just learned about it.
Have fun checking it out. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts!
Dumb question (hey, it's tradition!): is there any advantage to using NotebookLM if I already have Gemini? It seems like Notebook is fantastic for looking at your documents... is Gemini equal or better in all categories? Any key edges?
If you're using the freely available Gemini Pro, then yeah: The advantage is pretty much all the features of NotebookLM. With Gemini Pro, you only get the "Chat" piece of the puzzle. I can't see any options to add even a single document as a source (only images), so forget about parsing information across sources. And there's no space to keep notes, etc.
But if you mean you've upgraded to Gemini Advanced, then that kind of gives you the "Notes" feature in that it brings Gemini to your individual Google Docs, etc. But does it combine information from multiple soruces? If so, then perhaps it can do largely the same as NotebookLM (with a better underlying LLM to boot).
I guess it's "Gemini Advanced." Sorry, I don't even know the names of the services I use!
I do know things about how they work, though.
Right now, I can ask Gemini to look into my Google docs for things and tell me about them. It's not like shocking or profound, but I've only tested that the functionality is there. If you want to give me a really simple test I can run, I'll try it and report back.
That sounds pretty neat! I wonder how well it handles pulling information from your entire library of documents on a specific subject and turning it into a coherent overview. So if you try that and have some observations, I'd be curious to hear them.
I played for a few mnutes, but the system seems overwhelmed by the number of documents and emails it has to sort through. it's also not looking at spreadsheets. I could probably try running a multiple document upload test, though. That's what I'm more curious about right now (although I certainly crave that greater functionality).
So, Gemini doesn't seem to let me upload PDFs. However, I ran an experiment in ChatGPT (4) where I asked this:
Can you check these out and tell me a list of 3 similiarities and 3 differences in the main message of these?
I uploaded a Buffett shareholder letter from 2022 and one from 1965. Here's what our homie got:
Based on the information extracted from the Berkshire Hathaway letter and the Buffett Partnership letters, here are three similarities and three differences in their main messages:
Similarities:
Focus on Long-Term Value Creation: Both sets of letters emphasize the importance of focusing on long-term value creation rather than short-term market fluctuations. Warren Buffett consistently highlights the significance of investing in businesses with favorable economic characteristics and trustworthy management.
Investment Philosophy: The letters reflect a consistent investment philosophy that prioritizes understanding the businesses they invest in, whether through full ownership or stock ownership. This approach is based on the economic performance of the businesses rather than market speculation.
Trust and Partnership: Both letters underscore the trust and partnership between Warren Buffett, his partners, and shareholders. There is a clear emphasis on managing others' savings responsibly and with a sense of stewardship, emphasizing the relationship over mere financial transactions.
Differences:
Scope and Scale of Investments: The Buffett Partnership letters focus on more specific investment strategies and the operational aspects of managing a smaller investment partnership. In contrast, the Berkshire Hathaway letters discuss broader strategic issues and the performance of a large conglomerate with a diverse range of businesses and investments.
Investment Opportunities and Constraints: The Buffett Partnership letters mention the constraints and opportunities unique to its size and investment approach, such as the focus on "generals," "work-outs," and "controls." The Berkshire Hathaway letter, however, discusses investments in major publicly-traded companies and wholly-owned subsidiaries, reflecting a different scale and scope of investment opportunities.
Performance Measurement and Reporting: The Buffett Partnership letters provide detailed comparisons of their performance against the Dow Jones Industrial Average and discuss specific investment cases in detail. The Berkshire Hathaway letter, while still providing performance data, tends to focus more on the principles behind the investments and the broader economic value created, rather than detailed performance metrics against market indices.
These similarities and differences reflect the evolution of Warren Buffett's investment approach and responsibilities as he transitioned from managing a partnership focused on specific investment strategies to leading a large conglomerate with a broad investment portfolio.
Yeah I have access to ChatGPT Plus myself, and it's solid for uploading documents and talking about them.
But what's missing for me there is the space to work with notes, extract and save its feedback, etc. It's basically one long neverending chat thread, that will eventually get buried among the many other chats in the left sidebar.
That's what NotebookLM solves: Having a single workspace to keep track of notes and research on a single topic and go back and forth with them, then draft something based on that.
You can do this with ChatGPT (or any other chatbot) but only if you combine it with a separate tool that gives you a place to extract its responses and organize them, which can quicly become a hassle.
(which is pretty solid, although you could probably conclude that by reading a little online. I've read all of Buffett's letters myself)