Episode 3: Testing NotebookLM's audio capabilities

[00:00:00] So NotebookLM is from Google, and it's a Notetaking Research Assistant, powered by Gemini.

[00:00:08] And I've been seeing it appear in my feed now and again.

[00:00:12] And I wanted to give a little bit of a spin and one of the things caught my attention

[00:00:18] is someone had unlinked in, I think it was, they had essentially said,

[00:00:23] you don't need podcasting and all that nonsense Google will do it for you.

[00:00:30] To which I thought, hmm, okay. And then the the individual I'll try and find and link

[00:00:36] it somewhere, but the individual just said, you try this and they, it looked like NotebookLM

[00:00:42] had produced a podcast episode off of the person's information. And I, I thought, no, how does that work?

[00:00:54] What the quality of it was astonishing. It sounded like an American high quality American podcast

[00:01:05] But I, I go so far to say, in NPR as in public national public radio quality of a guy and

[00:01:13] a girl talking about a topic. And I wondered can I duplicate that? So what I did is today my

[00:01:21] this week, my article on Conversational AI in banking. I think it's the, you know, what I said,

[00:01:35] Nordic FinTech magazine team with Chris Cresple running it. They published my article.

[00:01:41] And I'm so delighted to have been published by them, I'm a massive fan and I thought, you know what,

[00:01:46] having, I've got some distinct information as a couple of maybe three page article.

[00:01:52] And I took that and I dropped it into notebook LM and it didn't work because it was a word document.

[00:02:01] I formatted it into PDF dropped it in again. That was perfectly fine within a few seconds.

[00:02:07] Notebook LM has done it right, it's perceived the information. It's got a little summary and

[00:02:14] it's ready for me to ask questions. Great. Top right though on this Notebook LM screen is an audio

[00:02:21] overview option. And what you can do is you press a button and then you wait a couple of minutes

[00:02:26] and it generates an audio overview of the information you've provided. It takes some license,

[00:02:34] right? And I can imagine it feels like I've gone to chat GPT or Gemini in this case

[00:02:42] and said, look, here is the information make a radio show, make a podcast, make an audio

[00:02:46] overview of this data. So it's taken some dramatic license almost but it covers the topic

[00:02:55] of my article rather effectively across six or something minutes. So this is this audio

[00:03:03] generated a couple of moments and the quality is astonishing. It's very, very good. A number of times

[00:03:11] there's been a mispronouncement, a number of times but very, very difficult to perceive. For example

[00:03:19] the word banking, I think maybe they rushed it when it was being spoken. That came out like

[00:03:26] banking for example but nothing I mean it's really, really good. It sounds like someone's, someone's

[00:03:32] taken my article and they've editorialized it and they've produced a piece for the radio or

[00:03:40] very professional podcast and they're talking about my article, they're discussing it and now and

[00:03:47] again they're lifting quotes from it. So the man, the guy, he actually is used essentially

[00:03:55] he's some of the words I've typed in the article, he speaks the muzzle there his,

[00:04:03] the lady since a guy and a girl, she introduces the whole thing of conversationally I in a

[00:04:11] smart way. I would almost say this has been produced and if I would suggest it's been produced

[00:04:19] by someone who's not that close to the material but good enough and rush it a little bit,

[00:04:25] if you see what I mean. So I would imagine if I went on to five or right now and found a really

[00:04:32] the second most expensive radio or podcast produced there. Okay so good, good experience individual

[00:04:40] and I gave them four hundred dollars and said right, well and and some voice talent. So

[00:04:48] create the script that would take a little while then going get the voice talent to record it

[00:04:54] or then produce it nicely so Google did that in a minute or something the quality's

[00:05:01] possible the quality is really really good. Would you like to hear it? So first off I'll link

[00:05:07] the article if you want to go and see it it's on sort of Nordic FinTech magazine and it's maybe

[00:05:14] two pages three pages in the word and I think it's 10,000 characters or 12,000 characters or something

[00:05:23] you can you can actually read that online and I would encourage you to do so. I've linked it

[00:05:27] on Conversationally I use.com you can find the article there but have a look at the article

[00:05:33] and then listen listen to the six or so minute overview and tell me what you think I just have

[00:05:43] a think so it's not perfect but it's deeply, deeply impressive. Here we go. Hey everyone ready for a

[00:05:52] deep dive into the future of finance we're talking AI but not just any AI this is conversational AI

[00:05:59] and it's about to change the way we bank, invest, you name it. Definitely and it's no longer

[00:06:05] a sci-fi concept right we're talking real world applications that are already making waves.

[00:06:10] Exactly so we're diving into this report conversational AI the next banking interface

[00:06:14] to break down exactly what's happening and what it means for all of us whether we're running

[00:06:19] companies or just trying to manage our money. So remember those clunky old chat bots the ones

[00:06:24] that seem to have a knack for misunderstanding every question you through with them. Oh I remember

[00:06:28] those always felt like I was taking a crash course in frustration. Right well good news those

[00:06:33] days are long gone this isn't about those basic chat bots anymore. Yeah it's like comparing

[00:06:38] a tricycle to a self-driving car you know the technology has advanced light years in a short amount

[00:06:44] of time. Totally and the report highlights is perfectly get that some of these new AI powered chat

[00:06:50] bots are handering like millions of customer conversations with over 90% accuracy. It's incredible

[00:06:57] and the key is they're not just spitting out pre-programmed answers they're actually plugged into

[00:07:02] the core working systems. Right I mean think about that it means they can pull up your account info,

[00:07:08] process transactions even order you a new card all while you're chatting with them it's like

[00:07:13] I had a taste of this myself recently with Santander I needed a new debit card and honestly I just

[00:07:17] could not face going through their app again. So on a whim I message their bot San De

[00:07:23] and let me tell you it was shockingly easy. A couple questions bam new card on its way didn't even

[00:07:28] have to dig up my account number it was mind blowing and that's just scratching the surface.

[00:07:33] Think about the implications for call centers. AI handles those simpler tasks like resetting a

[00:07:39] password or checking a balance which frees up human agents for the really complex issues. Right so

[00:07:45] instead of getting bogged down with the little thing. Exactly and it leads to faster service

[00:07:49] happier customers win win all around. Absolutely and the thing is it's not limited to just

[00:07:55] typing anymore we've got voice assistance now and they've gotten seriously good at understanding us

[00:08:01] it's crazy how fast it's all happening. I know right remember when you had to talk to them in a

[00:08:06] monotone robot voice just to get them to work. Oh tell me about it but no imagine this

[00:08:11] you call up your insurance company but instead of being put on hold forever a voice assistant picks up

[00:08:17] and as you're explaining your situation it's already pulling up your policy details in the background

[00:08:22] ready to help. That's where we're at. Exactly it's like having your own personal assistant

[00:08:26] but way more efficient. Right and here's another interesting tidbit from the report

[00:08:31] VA's are proving surprisingly effective in dead collection. That's an area you wouldn't necessarily

[00:08:36] expect right but it turns out people are often more comfortable talking about sensitive financial

[00:08:42] situations with an AI. There's this whole new layer of I don't know maybe less judgment.

[00:08:49] Let me think it's fascinating isn't it and it really highlights the evolving relationship

[00:08:53] between humans and technology. It really makes you think about how we interact with technology

[00:08:58] especially when it comes to something as personal as our finances you know. It's true and

[00:09:03] you know one of the biggest takeaways for me from this whole report is how

[00:09:06] conversational AI isn't just about replacing human jobs. Right. It's about making those humans

[00:09:12] even better at what they do. Absolutely it's like giving everyone superpowers. Exactly like picture this

[00:09:18] you've got a customer service agent on the phone with a client trying to untangle some

[00:09:25] crazy fraudulert situation. Now instead of putting that client on hold while the scramble for information

[00:09:32] which will be honest nobody enjoying it. No not at all but now they've got this AI assistant listening in

[00:09:38] pulling up all the relevant data in a flash. Exactly like imagine you're that call center agent right

[00:09:43] a customer calls in super frustrated because they can't get into their online account in the past.

[00:09:49] You'd be searching through manuals putting them on hold just a whole thing. Yeah it's a recipe for

[00:09:53] disaster. Exactly but now AI's got your back it's listening in pulls up their account

[00:09:59] industry instantly might even flag a potential security issue before it even becomes a problem.

[00:10:03] Now you go from playing catch up to being proactive you know offering solutions instead of excuses

[00:10:09] it's a game changer. It totally is and the best part is this isn't just for those big shot banks

[00:10:16] either. Yeah the article even mentioned this fintech company Pluto.ai remember that. Oh yeah yeah.

[00:10:22] They developed this investment buddy voice assistant. It was like having your own personal financial

[00:10:27] advisor writing your pocket and they were doing some really cool stuff too like helping users

[00:10:32] analyze investment strategies get those real-time market updates all through a simple chat. Yeah

[00:10:38] and you know it was legit because Robinhood snapped them up pretty quickly. It's true and that

[00:10:43] really goes to show you where the industry sees this technology going. This isn't a fad it's the

[00:10:49] future of finance. I mean it really makes you realize we are living in the future right. This isn't

[00:10:54] a science fiction anymore. Seriously. It's happening now. Real and the pace of change it's just mind

[00:11:01] blowing and for companies out there especially in finance like the article said oh yeah.

[00:11:06] If you're not even looking into this technology you are already behind the curve. Yeah.

[00:11:11] News you lose 100% but the good news is always good news. You don't need to like

[00:11:16] go all in right away. The article had a good point about you know starting small. Yeah.

[00:11:22] Maybe proof of concept something like giving I don't know your call center.

[00:11:27] Instant access to your entire knowledge base through VA. I love that. Simple but think about how

[00:11:34] powerful that is. So powerful. Right and that actually makes me think about something else the article

[00:11:39] mentioned. Okay. It talked about how important it is to educate customers on effectively using the AI

[00:11:46] interface which okay that makes sense. Yeah. But it also kind of got me thinking like as this technology

[00:11:52] keeps getting smarter and smarter. Mm-hmm. Are we going to have to start adapting to it instead

[00:11:57] of the other way around? It's a really interesting question. Right. Makes you think. It really does.

[00:12:02] Well that about wraps up our deep dive into the wild world of conversational AI in finance.

[00:12:09] I don't know about you but I'm walking away with a lot to think about. Me too. It's amazing stuff.

[00:12:13] So to everyone listening keep those questions coming. Keep exploring this fascinating world

[00:12:18] and hey maybe we'll be back for another deep dive soon until then stay curious.

[00:12:24] Okay so what did you think? It's pretty good right? Pretty good. And goodness me we're not far away.

[00:12:34] Based on that, based on that capability we're not far away from being able to say,

[00:12:38] tell me where this is. Tell me where that. Almost, you know, custom level experiences.

[00:12:45] I wonder if almost I need to make conversational AI news available for agents in a very specific

[00:12:53] form so that your agent can take my content and then format it as best you like to hear it.

[00:13:03] Wonder if that's where we need to go. Really impressive. Nice work Google.

[00:13:09] This is perhaps something we haven't, you know, words that haven't really been said that much

[00:13:14] because I think Google's take coming for a lot of stick. Certainly from what we've seen from

[00:13:21] the likes of Claude and Jackie BT and so on. Gemini is I think up there in terms of how I'm

[00:13:32] but I think we need to see more of these kind of really smart, really nicely presented

[00:13:40] innovations well done Google because it looks like they've rediscovered that the fridies

[00:13:49] the 20% thing is really cool. It's a nice work Google. I look forward to seeing what's coming.