Google’s NotebookLM, one of the company’s rare generative AI experiments that hasn't been unceremoniously killed off, is getting its biggest update ever. The research assistant is now powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash, the model that debuted at Google I/O this year promising faster, cheaper processing. Google claims companies worried about token costs can save big while getting similar or better outputs - a pitch that sounds great until you remember Google has a habit of rebranding things into oblivion.
NotebookLM launched in 2023 at the dawn of the AI boom, letting users analyze documents and webpages with Google’s latest models. In side-by-side evaluations against the old Gemini 3.1 branch, Google says the new model averaged a 65 percent win rate across five “core evaluation dimensions”: Accuracy and Quality, Multilingual Support, Large Document Analysis, Document Creation, and Advanced Research. Google is being vague about the test specifics, but 65 percent sounds like a solid C+ - which in AI grading is basically an A.
The update also brings a “cloud computer” that lets NotebookLM use Antigravity to write and run code for research goals. Google says it comes with over 100 software skills to build workflows that previously required jumping between apps. Because nothing says “productivity” like a feature named after a sci-fi concept that definitely doesn’t exist.
NotebookLM now generates documents in multiple formats, added to the Studio Panel alongside infographics, quizzes, and audio overviews. You can even prompt edits after creation - a feature that will surely delight anyone who’s ever argued with a chatbot about formatting. Google plans to add more file types over time, starting with whatever they’ve deemed least likely to break.
The update also expands source importing: from the chat interface, you can ask Gemini to find sources, and it presents a “research report” with import options. All future interactions use those sources plus your manual ones. It’s like having a research assistant who occasionally hallucinates citations but means well.
Features roll out today but only to AI Ultra subscribers and Workspace business customers with AI Ultra Access or AI Expanded Access. Everyone else will see updates “in the near future,” which in Google time means sometime before the next AI model is announced and this one gets quietly deprecated.