NotebookLM's Video Overview feature has been available for only a short time, but it has already undergone updates to enhance its functionality. Google may be adding even more improvements in the future.
NotebookLM, if you didn't know, is Google's AI-powered research and notetaking assistant that only uses the sources you feed it to provide you answers. It can generate a host of different resources based on those sources, such as study guides, mind maps, flashcards, and, as you might expect, Audio and Video Overviews. Those overviews can provide a podcast-like explanation based on your source materials, accompanied by matching visuals.
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Last month, Google introduced new Video Overview styles, thanks to integration with its Nano Banana AI image model, making the feature more flexible and better looking. Currently, there are seven video overview styles to choose from, but Google may be opening the doors for something even more advanced: a customizable style based on your prompt.
Instead of waiting for Google to release additional styles, which it is likely to do, you might be able to opt for a "custom" option to create your own style of Video Overview. Spotted by the tech and AI-focused site, Testing Catalog, the new custom style would allow you to let your imagination run wild with possibilities.
Google did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
You can already customize how your material is presented to you by instructing what the AI hosts will focus on in your video. For example, not only can you tell the host what subject to focus on, but also how to speak about the subject. I took an article about Microsoft Mico and added a prompt to treat the news as if it were old technology and to deliver it in an ominous, Edgar Allen Poe style. It hit all of those marks with ease. Adding that necessary visual backdrop would have made it perfect.
So, customizing how your video will be visually presented could be a solid combination to create the perfect Video Overview, no matter what you're doing.
Although we're still unsure when or even if the feature will be released for NotebookLM, it seems like something Google would make available, so our fingers are crossed that it makes the cut.