Hi. I’m Tom and I’m a serious notetaker. I can’t even go to the grocery store without a detailed checklist in Apple Notes.
I recently went to the LeadingRE conference in Las Vegas and noted that AI is everywhere, but I like how it’s being used in the real estate industry. This is what I wrote.
I like how it’s being used in real estate. It’s a great fit for things like home reports. Business intelligence empowers both real estate professionals and consumers. I like that.
However, I am not a fan of the content I see spewing out of ChatGPT and other AI platforms. The Internet is now littered with AI generated blog posts, emails, and social media content. In fact, I recently read an obituary that was clearly written by ChatGPT. Personally, I’d rather read a heartfelt obituary that wasn’t grammatically correct than something a machine spit out in two seconds, but that’s just me. Nonetheless, I am a fan of using Artificial Intelligence as a tool to increase productivity.
If you're anything like me, you likely have notes scattered across different platforms such as Apple Notes, Google Docs, Evernote, and more. Throughout the years, I have been constantly switching between standalone apps that were never integrated. I don’t even want to think about how many ideas or important tasks have fallen through the cracks over the years because of my workflow. I don't mean to be dramatic, but I've always dreamed of a platform that could bring together all my random thoughts, notes, and tasks. And I think I may have finally found it.
Google just released a new product called NotebookLM that I've been trying out. It basically enables you to consolidate all your notes and uses AI to organize them. The premise is straightforward, yet the platform holds immense value. Google Labs teamed up with
, one of my favorite nonfiction authors, to create the project. I met Steve Johnson back in the day at a conference we both spoke at. I also had the opportunity to see him speak at the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley. He writes about innovation and other interesting topics. If you’re not familiar with his work, I highly recommend his book Where Good Ideas Come From.NotebookLM is free and you can sign up using your Gmail account. The interface is pretty simple and includes three sections:
Sources (where you connect Google Docs, upload a PDF, or paste copied text)
Notes
Chat (just like ChatGPT or Gemini)
I encourage you to jump right in. Start by creating a notebook, then incorporate some Google Docs. The app's true strength lies in its ability to connect multiple sources. After generating a summary, NotebookLM allows you to add notes and prompts. As you probably know, I am writing the Max Creek biography. I made a Max Creek notebook and linked my interviews with band members. I was super impressed with the transcriptions and takeaways from the interviews. At the very least, try using it with your meeting notes.
The program is fundamentally different from ChatGPT and in a good way. It uses Source Grounded AI—You point the AI at your private documents and information and when you exit a notebook, it’s wiped from the AI short term memory. Additionally, your information isn't being used to train other models. As a writer, I really like that. Each notebook is limited to 20 sources. However, you can have 200,000 words per document, which is like 4 Million words to work with. Literally. It’s worth noting that the app is in its infancy. It’s certainly not perfect and I’m sure you’ll find some oddities. However, if you’re a serious notetaker, give it a try.
Here is the tutorial I watched to get started.
Enjoy your weekend!