Gemini Notebook podcast may be the AI platform you need to use more than Gemini and ChatGPT
Without podcaster interruptions and self-promotions, this AI podcast helps you learn about a topic quickly and cohesively
This post is part of a series entitled “BlackTechLogy.” Click here for the archived posts. It was published on July 7, 2026 before Google NotebookLM was renamed Gemini Notebook on July 16, 2026.
Podcasts have become the cool new job for comedians, actors, battle rappers and mainstream rappers, politicians, reality show stars, and athletes. Everyone is featured in so many of them to the point where the hosts are being asked to be guests on the guest’s podcast. Online users are doing a 180 and wondering, “Wait, didn’t I just see Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on Michelle Obama’s ‘IMO’ and now these two are interviewing Barack Obama.”
Recommended Read: “Obama keeps saying ‘s**t’ … and 9 other things I learned from ‘Renegades Podcast’ ~ Learning to understand that my favorite couple in the White House was never perfect”
Sometimes it works out well no matter the platform. For example, I’m never going to miss a “Bald Brothers Podcast” episode and was equally excited to see Tony Baker as a guest on “Not My Best Moment.” Then, when I saw Tony Baker on Season 1 of “Safe Spaces,” you better believe I tuned in to the duo a third time. (Season 2 is way funnier though.)
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Kid Mero (the Bodega Boy podcaster who moved on to “7PM in Brooklyn” and “Victory Light”) is the only reason I started listening to Hot 97 again (for “Mornings With Mero”), but I was even more entertained to see him on “Not My Best Moment.” Mero somehow managed to indirectly talk me into listening to a hysterical episode of “The Breakfast Club” (with Dame Dash) after boycotting that radio show for two years. And boy, do I owe the biggest apology to Loren Lorosa for all kinds of grumpy YouTube comments insisting she shouldn’t be a co-host over Jess the Mess. Turns out I like Loren even more once I saw the two side-by-side.
I haven’t been this wrong since I insisted that Pretty Ricky couldn’t possibly beat B2K in “Verzuz.” I’m still speechless that I’ve become a Pretty Ricky fan in 2026 — almost two decades after the group’s peak. (I was already a Mario music fan, so I kinda saw the results of the first “Verzuz” against Omarion coming.) With that said, Fizz and J. Boog cracking jokes in the background was hysterical.
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But with all the entertainment coming from podcasts, there has been some criticism about artificial intelligence entering the mix and creating AI podcasts. Initially, this seemed like a terrible idea. If listeners have no personal attachment (as a music fan, movie fan, video game fan), why would they listen to an AI podcast?
This seemed like a rhetorical question until I needed to learn about a legal topic more expeditiously than T.I.! I created Google NotebookLM (now Gemini Notebook) infographics, flashcards and a quiz, but it was the Google NotebookLM podcast that felt like the clouds parted and the sun came out. Twenty minutes after linking five long-winded websites full of legalese that would take me forever to translate, I had the basics down enough to write a legal response back that would have cost me $500 with one of the two attorneys I was conversing with.
Unlike entertainment podcasts, I didn’t need to know who the male podcaster was or the female podcaster, but both of them spoke in such a conversational manner that I got all the basics down and even laughed a few times at their snarky commentary.
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Why podcast listeners, bookworms and entrepreneurs should check out NotebookLM
The podcast industry has created a different problem: information overload. With so many podcasters asking some of the same questions and guests announcing the same music and movie release dates, depending on the podcast (or show), it can all start blending together. And this specifically matters if a podcast is trying to get an educational or informational message across. Google’s NotebookLM, however, doesn’t make traditional podcasts.
What I found out (completely by accident) was that Google’s NotebookLM creates AI-generated audio discussions based entirely on the sources I provided. Those sources can include PDFs, websites, research papers, other YouTube videos, Google Docs, Google Slides (or PowerPoint) presentations and other data-heavy content. While I’m always going to be a bookworm who enjoys reading, for information that I need to know immediately, I just don’t have the bandwidth to stop everything to read a book. Sometimes it is easier to learn on the go. This is where Google NotebookLM thrives.
Instead of co-hosts (usually comedians) constantly interrupting the guests to talk about themselves or music podcasters purposely butchering rap lyrics (ex. “I miss my Uncle Georgia”) for clicks — IYKYK — NotebookLM’s AI hosts discuss information accurately from the sources provided. And the podcasters couldn’t care less if you know their AI background while doing so. No constant interruptions. No trailing off. No long-winded impressions. And you get straight to the good stuff in a natural, conversational way. (Surprisingly, the AI podcasters’ jokes actually land.)