Google renames NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook, adds code execution

Google is retiring the NotebookLM name in favor of Gemini Notebook — the latest example of a pattern in which the company launches an AI product under its own name during an experimental phase, then eventually folds it into the Gemini brand. Alongside the rename, Google is rolling out an update that gives each notebook its own secure container, inside which users can generate code to make outputs interactive. With that code-execution ability, users can draw on multiple sources within a notebook at once and build more complex data analysis directly inside the tool.

NotebookLM got its start at Google I/O in 2023, when Google first showed it off under the working name Project Tailwind. In the three years since, the company has grown it into a product used by 30 million people and over 600,000 organizations, while layering on capabilities such as interactive podcast generation, curated notebooks, video overviews, support for more file types, and an enterprise plan. NotebookLM’s traction has had a ripple effect beyond Google, too: other companies and startups have added their own capabilities for podcast generation from source material and research tools, following its lead.

The new code-execution update is rolling out first to subscribers on Google’s AI Ultra paid plan, as well as Workspace business customers with AI Ultra Access or AI Expanded Access. Users on the Pro plan will get access to the feature in the coming weeks. Google also said notebooks can already be viewed inside the Gemini app, and that access through AI Mode in Search is coming soon.

Why it matters

Folding NotebookLM fully into Gemini removes the last distance between Google’s dedicated research-and-analysis tool and its core AI push — the tool becomes just another surface reachable from the Gemini app and, soon, AI Mode in Search.