Behind the product: NotebookLM | Raiza Martin (Senior Product Manager, AI @ Google Labs)

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Lenny Rachitsky

Technology, Business, Entrepreneurship

5 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2024

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Raiza Martin is a senior product manager for AI at Google Labs, where she leads the team behind NotebookLM, an AI-powered research tool that includes a delightful podcast-on-demand feature called “Audio Overviews.” NotebookLM started as a 20% project and has grown into a product that’s spreading across social media and has a Discord server with over 60,000 users. Raiza previously worked on AI Test Kitchen and has a background in startups, payments, and ads. In our conversation, we discuss:

• The origin story of NotebookLM

• The future road map for NotebookLM

• How Google Labs operates differently from the rest of Google

• The development of the “Audio Overviews” feature

• Key metrics and growth of NotebookLM

• Stories about collaborating with author Steven Johnson

• Navigating potential misuse of AI technology

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Brought to you by:

• Explo — Embed customer-facing analytics in your product

• Sprig⁠⁠ — Build products for people, not data points

• Sidebar — Accelerate your career by surrounding yourself with extraordinary peers

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Find the transcript and show notes at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/googles-notebooklm-raiza-martin

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Where to find Raiza Martin:

• X: https://x.com/raiza_abubakar

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/whatsaraiza/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to NotebookLM

(05:43) The genesis of NotebookLM

(08:08) Innovative features and use cases

(18:52) Building a startup culture within Google

(24:28) Expanding user demographics

(27:30) The product roadmap

(32:18) Other use cases

(36:11) Collaborating with Steven Johnson

(42:49) Ensuring ethical AI

(46:06) Future directions and user engagement

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone we're here on linnies podcast it's great to be here I'm a long time
0:08.5	listener so awesome really is we're the hosts of a different show of deep dive and we just we just wanted to say thanks a huge huge thank you to everyone everyone who's been listening. Yeah seriously it's been incredible just incredible and thank you to Lenny for having us.
0:23.0	Bologna, really, by the response and all the shows you've all had us make on notebook
0:27.8	LM, even that poop fart one, remember that? Oh yeah, that was something.
0:32.1	Learned a lot on that one.
0:34.0	Definitely a learning experience for everyone I think.
0:36.0	But we're learning right alongside you.
0:38.0	Exactly.
0:39.0	Learning and growing.
0:40.0	And we're glad you're along for the ride.
0:42.0	So yeah, keep listening.
0:43.7	Keep listening and stay curious we promise to keep diving deep and bringing you even more in the future.
0:52.1	Stay curious.
0:54.0	If you are confused about what you just heard,
0:57.0	don't worry, it'll all make sense very soon.
0:59.0	Today my guest is Riza Martin.
1:01.0	Riza is product lead for a product called Notebook LM, one of the most delightful
1:05.5	and inspiring new AI products out there, incubated within Google Labs, and this product is where
1:10.9	the intro you just heard came from.
1:12.9	In our conversation, Riza shares how Notebook LM came to be, how it got so good, the technology
1:19.0	that was necessary to make it possible, how the team works internally, how is incubated, specifically within Google
1:24.9	Labs and out of the team's 20% time, plus a bunch of really fun and crazy use cases that she's seen,
	...

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