Google Gemini Notebook books feature adds questions and AI outputs

Google Gemini Notebook books can now be used as AI research sources through a feature called Expert Intelligence, The Verge reported. The change connects eligible titles bought through Google Play Books to Gemini Notebook, allowing owners to question the material and create work from it.

For readers, the key limit is ownership. Sharing a notebook that includes a purchased book does not give another person access to that title unless they have bought it themselves, The Verge reported.

What can Gemini Notebook do with books you buy?

Users can bring supported Play Books purchases into Gemini Notebook and ask questions about their contents. The Verge reported that the app can also generate plans, infographics and AI podcasts based on a book, and that owners can view the book’s full text in Notebook.

Gemini Notebook is Google’s source-based research tool. Google says users can also add PDFs, websites, YouTube videos, audio, Google Docs and Google Slides; the product provides citations that point to quotes in the supplied material.

Expert Intelligence begins with more than 100,000 supported books, The Verge reported. Publishers represented in the initial group include Penguin Random House, Johns Hopkins University Press, Macmillan Publishers and O’Reilly Media.

• Check the book’s Google Play Books listing for “Gemini Notebook” under its Tools badge.
• Use a supported title you purchased as a source in a Gemini Notebook.
• Ask questions or request generated material grounded in that book.

Can someone else read a book in a shared notebook?

No access is transferred by sharing the notebook, The Verge reported. A person who does not own the title can see that it is listed as a source, but cannot read the text or get information tied to it. Selecting the source takes that person to Google Play Books, where they can purchase the book.

Google has also worked with 15 authors on Featured Notebooks, The Verge reported. Those notebooks include author-selected supplementary sources and introductory letters; participating authors include Michael Pollan, Kim Scott, Steven Pinker and Jennifer Wallace.

Google Labs editorial director Steven Johnson told The Verge that the company plans to bring Expert Intelligence to AI Mode in Search and the Gemini app in the future. He also said Google intends to expand the program beyond books to scholarly articles, magazines and newspapers.

Google describes Gemini Notebook as a research and thinking tool grounded in sources users provide. The new book connection adds purchased, supported Play Books titles to that source-based workflow rather than opening a general catalog of books to every user.

This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.