Google has expanded NotebookLM Plus, a paid model of its AI-based note-taking and analysis assistant, to particular person customers subscribed to the Google One AI Premium plan — virtually two months after its debut for enterprises on Google Cloud and by way of Google Workspace.
First introduced in December after an earlier pilot, NotebookLM Plus gives increased utilization limits and premium options. This contains 5 instances extra utilization than the free model of NotebookLM, or 500 notebooks and 300 sources per pocket book in addition to as much as 500 chat querie, and 20 audio generations per day.
Particular person subscribers can now entry all these options with the Google One AI Premium tier, which prices $20 a month. Moreover, Google has launched a 50% low cost for college kids above 18 years within the U.S. — providing the One AI Premium at a month-to-month cost of $9.99.
“We’ve always wanted to get NotebookLM Plus out to enterprises and consumers, and have seen really a ton of interest from consumers, and in particular students from the beginning,” mentioned Kelly Schaefer, director of product and area lead at Google Labs, in an interview.
Launched as a challenge in 2023, NotebookLM gained wider consideration following the debut of its Audio Overviews function in September final yr. The service, which permits customers to generate podcast-like audio conversations primarily based on the content material they add, led firms like ElevenLabs and Meta to repeat the concept.
In the meantime, Google’s providing remained related with common updates, together with the flexibility to information AI-generated audio conversations.
Schaefer instructed TechCrunch that Google is planning to reinforce Audio Overviews in NotebookLM with assist for different languages past English.
“We are thinking about how to prioritize the languages and then, most importantly, how to make sure that they feel really genuine and just as seamless and natural as our current Audio Overviews do,” she mentioned.
Schaefer didn’t disclose the Gemini AI fashions Google makes use of for NotebookLM, however mentioned the underlying mannequin is presently the identical for each Plus and non-premium customers. Google Labs experiments with completely different variants of Gemini and all the time makes use of the “latest and best matching Gemini models for the specific task at hand,” she famous.
The workforce can also be working to convey NotebookLM to cellular units by means of a devoted app, Schaefer instructed us, however didn’t share a particular timeline.
“We want mobile to feel in many ways similar to the desktop experience but also really tailor it for the use cases that are most common for mobile,” Schaefer mentioned.
As well as, the corporate is exploring how NotebookLM may leverage the emergence of reasoning fashions and work on considering and reasoning experiences.
Whereas NotebookLM Plus is now expanded to particular person subscribers on the Google One AI Premium plan, which brings entry to Gemini Superior, Gemini in Gmail, Docs, and 2TB of cloud storage entry, Schaefer acknowledged the workforce will proceed to assist non-paying customers.
“We want folks to get an excellent experience on NotebookLM, whether they’re free or paid, and it’s very important to use that the NotebookLM free experience is excellent. So, we’re thinking more about how we offer even more to the Plus users versus degrading any experience for free users,” she mentioned.
Google has not disclosed the precise variety of customers on NotebookLM nor the dimensions of its workforce, solely saying that it’s grown over time.
Nevertheless, knowledge from market intelligence supplier Similarweb suggests the AI assistant has seen 28.18 million visits within the final three months, with virtually 9 million in January alone.
