Google adds new Audio Overview formats to NotebookLM: Check what's new

NotebookLM now offers Brief, Critique, and Debate Audio Overviews, giving users flexible ways to explore and engage with their sources

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Google’s NotebookLM is adding three new Audio Overview formats—Brief, Critique, and Debate—which give users additional ways to engage with their sources beyond the existing Deep Dive style. The new formats allow users to understand core ideas, receive expert feedback on their material, or explore multiple perspectives, depending on their needs.

New Audio Overview formats

The default Deep Dive format is described as conversational dialogues where two AI hosts unpack your topic with in-depth questions. It provides a detailed discussion aimed at giving users a comprehensive understanding of their material. The newly added formats, however, provide different approaches to exploring content depending on the user’s needs.

 

The three new formats include:

• Brief: The Brief format delivers a bite-sized overview, which is designed to help users briefly grasp the core ideas from their sources. These summaries last just one to two minutes, offering a detailed perspective.
• Critique: The Critique format provides an expert-style review of your sources, giving constructive feedback and guidance to help improve your material.
• Debate: The Debate format features a structured discussion between two AI hosts, highlighting different viewpoints and exploring contrasting perspectives within the sources.

To access these new formats, users can tap the pencil icon in the Audio Overview card. This addition joins existing customisation options, including language, length, and prompt-based adjustments, which are already available on the NotebookLM app for both Android and iOS. 

 

The rollout of the Brief, Critique, and Debate formats comes after a recent update that improved non-English Audio Overviews in over eighty languages including Hindi, Korean, French, and Turkish. Previously, non-English users had access to simpler summaries, but the update now brings them in line with the detailed experience of the English version, offering comprehensive discussions of sources in all supported languages. In addition to these audio improvements, Google has also expanded Video Overviews to the same 80+ languages, giving users an additional way to engage with content visually.