Do you remember CliffsNotes?
The iconic Yellow and Black Book summarizes various works of literature. They digest the plot and detail the themes and symbolism. CliffsNotes calls them “study guides,” but many people use them to read the full version.
(Fun fact: CliffsNotes was founded in 1958 with an entire collection of Shakespeare summaries that it continues to publish today.)
Critics of CliffsNotes argue that superficial analysis loses much of the nuance and theme of the work. Teachers and others view using CliffsNotes as cheating. But that’s not what many students think when they read CliffsNotes the night before an assignment is due.
CliffsNotes comes to mind again as the latest conversation from Google NotebookLM. It’s taking the business world by storm, so we asked Robert Rose, chief strategist at CMI, for his take. Continue reading or watch this video:
Is NotebookLM the CliffsNotes of the 21st century? Does a rose have another name that smells just as sweet? If NotebookLM could talk, what would it ask?
What about Google’s AI apps?
Like most of Google’s products, NotebookLM is still in “experimental mode.” Google billed it as a note-taking app when it launched in the US in December 2023, adding new features over the past 10 months and having a growing fan base.
As it stands, NotebookLM provides a way to talk to and obtain summaries of document, video, and audio files uploaded to its system. It really reminds me of a more complex and advanced version of CliffsNotes.
Users can upload a file or source (Google calls it a source) and let NotebookLM summarize it, create a study guide, comment on it, or answer questions about it in a chat-like interface. I was shocked at how easy and natural it was to “talk to my files.”
But the feature released in September that has everyone excited is the message overview. It outputs files as podcast-friendly audio files. The AI hosts—an unnamed man and woman who sound young and energetic—offered a casual back-and-forth overview. To use a professional sports metaphor, the male AI provides play-by-play commentary, while the female AI provides color commentary and insights by asking questions or answering questions.
That’s impressive, especially when the technology adds one of my favorite new words— not fluent — into their speeches. The technology includes false starts, filler words, um, ah, like — all those natural language sounds that make the presenter sound more human. They really sound like two young people talking about your source document and what it means.
Some claim that NotebookLM can use these artificial intelligence characters to automate business podcasting. But is this really the best use case? If the only creative input is the document you’re planning, why would you value “someone else” doing it? This appears to be a thin moat of differentiation and value.
Has NotebookLM produced something truly different?
Is there anything different about NotebookLM that would add practical use?
According to my experiments, the answer is yes. It fits into the broader themes I’ve been discussing recently about artificial intelligence, and therefore the latest CliffsNotes metaphor.
I uploaded a ton of data from CMI’s 2025 B2B Content Marketing Outlook, which will be released next week. I asked it to write a summary. As you would expect, it gives a concise summary of the main themes and key points of the results in about two pages. But it also writes a section with key takeaways and actionable insights.
Looks impressive. However, after looking beyond the grand compilation of language, I realized that these points and insights were not insightful or intelligent. They simply highlight the results in a book report-like format.
Key actions include “prioritizing strategy and goal setting,” “adopting data-driven decision-making,” and “investing in technology and training.” While this all sounds great, it’s the equivalent of reading a report on best practices for baking cakes, with key actions including “start with fresh ingredients,” “make sure everything is mixed well,” and “make sure the oven is working properly.”
So I asked NotebookLM for the one key takeaway marketers should take away from reading this report. Well, it can’t just give me one, which makes sense since it’s built to summarize. It gave me three points, one of which was “The best-performing B2B marketers attribute their success to a deep understanding of their target audience and the creation of high-quality content.”
Again, this sounds impressive, but going back to the cake baking report analogy, this is equivalent to saying, “The best bakers attribute their success to their efforts in learning how to bake cakes and making high-quality cakes.” “The effort you put in.”
So, then I tried the audio feature, because that’s the most exciting aspect of NotebookLM. I asked it to provide a podcast-style audio overview. The eight-minute overview is impressive. But again, it only provides an overview of the results, without any insights. Moderators made comments like: “Yes, quality content is hard to produce,” and “Wow, B2B marketers are frustrated with the quality of their results.”
These results mimic what I see in all types of generative AI solutions because that’s what they are built to do. It’s all plot, no story. Generative AI tools are very good at identifying patterns, summarizing, structuring and providing the happenings of any story. It’s a lot like a 21st century version of CliffsNotes. Miracles happen when humans combine their experiences, go beyond “what happened” and derive or assign meaning to it.
Is this the road not taken?
I have two thoughts. First, NotebookLM’s value is not diminished by its emphasis on summarization; it reminds you of the tool’s potential value. It’s very helpful if you want a literal summary of the file. If you want an 8-minute audio version summarizing a 50-page corporate earnings report, research report, technical document, source code, or pretty much anything else, it’s really valuable. It can serve as a study guide when you don’t have time to read the entire document.
But there’s a tension between the first idea and the second that mirrors CliffsNotes’ cautious approach to its product. There is precious friction as you read, consume, and find meaning in the work. You have to realize that sometimes it’s better to read the original work so that you can use your experience, empathy, creativity, and knowledge (mostly your intelligence) to connect the less obvious dots in the work. This often leads to valuable insights that you might not find unless you read the entire book.
One of my favorite poems is “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. I asked NotebookLM for a summary of what CliffsNotes has to offer. Then I asked for the main takeaways, and NotebookLM gave the same lesson learned from millions of commencement speeches, hundreds of TV commercials, and business books: “Taking the road less traveled can lead to something more unique and unique. A more fulfilling life.
But this is not what the poem is about. If you read the poem carefully, thoroughly, and multiple times, you’ll realize that’s not the point. The title is “Road” no “The Road Taken” rather than “The Road I Traveled”. The poem is about what the author did not do, not what he did. Frost makes it clear that these roads are essentially the same and there is no difference between them. Furthermore, the author stated that in the future he would tell this story with a sigh, meaning that he would not necessarily be happy about the road less traveled or not taking the road more traveled. He leaves the reader with a vague line: “That makes all the difference.” The poem itself is a commentary on the fact that the choices in life are what you make. There is no right path to travel. The difference happens when you choose.
So if you choose the NotebookLM path, don’t think of it as a crutch to help you escape the friction of making meaning from complex ideas. Think of it as a companion that can help you move more fluidly from one idea to the next and spend your time on the things that really matter.
That’s your choice.
Featured related content: 6 ways to improve your content text-to-audio experience
Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
