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Gemini Notebook Now Lets You Reference Books, Turn Them Into Different Formats (digitaltrends.com)

(Friday August 28, 2026 @11:00AM (BeauHD) from the SparkNotes-on-steroids dept.)


Google is [1]adding an "Expert Intelligence" feature to Gemini Notebook (formerly known as NotebookLM) that [2]lets users cite and work directly from more than 100,000 books they own through Google Play Books. Those books can be used as sources for things like quizzes, infographics, and Audio Overviews. Digital Trends reports:

> For now, Google is offering one free book to users in the US as part of the launch campaign, with a caveat -- "while supplies last." At the moment, Expert Intelligence is only available in the Gemini Notebook app and its web dashboard, but down the road, Google says that it will also appear within the core Gemini app and AI mode in Search.

>

> The broad idea behind expert intelligence is to combine what you can already do with Gemini, and expertise sourced from your favorite books. So, if you're asking Gemini to create a meal plan that is based entirely on chicken and spinach, you can ask the AI assistant to look for relevant recipes in one of Martha Stewart's cookbooks that you own. You can use these books as a source and turn them into Infographics, Audio Overviews, and Quizzes, among other formats.

Google has partnered with select authors on Featured Notebooks that provide extra insights and context beyond their books. It's also worth noting that access is still tied to book ownership, so anyone using a shared Gemini notebook must own or purchase the book to fully use the feature.



[1] https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/gemini-notebook/expert-intelligence-leading-sources/

[2] https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/gemini-notebooks-will-now-let-you-reference-books-and-turn-them-into-different-formats/



Re:Sorry (Score:4, Informative)

by greytree ( 7124971 )

That's because you're a Taurus, who tend to be deeply grounded and reject horoscopes as utter nonsense.

Re: (Score:2)

by zlives ( 2009072 )

now do me, i believe google is just outsourcing creation for more AI slop by ingesting whatever you create to then resell.

Re: (Score:2)

by greytree ( 7124971 )

I tickled that my reply is modded up as "Informative".

It's always better when the modders are part of the joke.

Re: (Score:2)

by Anachronous Coward ( 6177134 )

> There must be a way around that. After all, Gemini is Intelligent , right? Couple of prompts and voila!

The first step is to purchase a copy of "Steal This Book" by Abbie Hoffman.

Re: (Score:2)

by zlives ( 2009072 )

it is not stealing if a corporation does it.

another benefit of corporate personhood, presidential pardons.

Show of Hands (Score:3)

by necro81 ( 917438 )

Question for the wider audience: who actually owns a book purchased from Google Play? Anyone? More than 3 people?

(I ought to say "owns" because, as we all know, what you are getting is a revocable license to certain content.)

The Portal to Edit Hell. (Score:2)

by geekmux ( 1040042 )

> ...as we all know, what you are getting is a revocable license to certain content.

When the human library goes fully digital, what we are getting is a portal to Edit Hell.

And I'm not just talking about the challenges Wikipedia editors might have. I'm talking about the AI entity with read/write access who wakes up one millisecond with a sponsored instruction set to modify our classic works.

And when I say classic works, I mean that legal case being searched in real-time to prove precedent and innocence, that has been edited by the highest bidder. And that's just when you replace the paral

Re: (Score:2)

by zlives ( 2009072 )

newspeak on steroids

Re: (Score:2)

by sg_oneill ( 159032 )

Sometimes I feel like we're playing chicken with the alien with this AI stuff. Stepping closer and closer to a car vs pedestrian disaster where we aren't the guy in the car. And we're not the one making the choice to jump in front of that car either.

Why do we need this? (Score:5, Interesting)

by pla ( 258480 )

There is no country on Earth where you're required to own works you cite from. It may be all but impossible to access some content without paying, but once you've seen it - including unlawfully* - you can reference it to your heart's content and there's not a damned thing the author or publisher can do about it.

Google is clearly trying to firewall off their own issues with mass copyright infringement during AI training by passing the buck to the end user. Not happenin', guys! If this rent-seeking scheme actually works in any form, it will just make Gemini everyone's absolute last choice for literature review.

* Yes, there are of course exceptions like classified material and trade secrets, but that's not what Google is talking about here.

"from books they own through Google Play Books" (Score:3)

by denis-The-menace ( 471988 )

You do NOT own anything through Google Play Books

The number of licorice gumballs you get out of a gumball machine
increases in direct proportion to how much you hate licorice.