Google has introduced Expert Intelligence, which is less flashy than its name suggests but still full of promise.
Gemini Notebook, previously known as NotebookLM, now lets you load ebooks in addition to the resources you could already add, including notes, PDFs, slides, web pages, and more. Once in the notebook, you can interact with it as you normally would, asking questions about it or doing the other things you can do in Gemini Notebook, such as making flashcards, building slide decks and infographics, and creating podcast-like audio overviews of the content.
At first, when I heard about the feature, I was really excited because it seems extremely valuable for readers. Often, when reading a book, you want to reference a particular part later or learn more about what you're reading. Being able to chat with Gemini Notebook about a book's contents would make either task easier and could even be a useful tool for improving reading comprehension.
However, there is a major caveat: You can only insert books from the Google Play Store that you have previously purchased.
The Google Play Store limitation restricts how many users can use ebooks to enrich their "notebooks" or information repertoires, since most ebook readers buy their books on platforms like Amazon Kindle. People are already expressing on X their desire for Kindle and Apple Books integrations, or even for academic journals to be referenced, such as MIT Press Open Access.
Yet that doesn't mean the feature should be discounted, as companies often first integrate features with internal products at launch and then, due to popular demand or after seeing how the trial run went, expand to other sources. Also, to help bridge that gap, Google is buying one book per person in the US while supplies last.
To see if a book you plan to buy is eligible for Expert Intelligence, visit Google Play Books, where a Gemini Notebook badge will be listed when you click the "Tools" badge on a book’s detail page.
Our Deeper View #
In the era of AI slop and user distrust, it is more important than ever for AI companies to make it clear where their sources come from and ease concerns about AI hallucinations and accuracy. For that reason, since NotebookLM first came onto the scene, people have been excited about the tool because it lets users reference only their own sources and notes rather than scraping information from the internet, which can often be inaccurate. The Expert Intelligence feature builds on that by integrating ebooks, though it will need broader reach across more ebook publishers and platforms to be useful.