My new favorite way to learn on any topic is free and is already in Spanish: Notebooklm

Learning is changing. Or, rather, we are beginning to relear how we learn. With AI as the protagonist. In my case, the click Definitive was caused by a tool: Notebooklm.

At first I used it as who tantles a new toy. I uploaded some PDF, he launched some question, compared his answers with those of Chatgpt … I soon started seeing him with other eyes: as a tool to think out loud. Or better: to think accompanied.

The moment Eureka He came one night, when I was realizing that there was a book that had been postponing months. It was one of those 300 -page trials that revolve around the same idea, something that sometimes goes very well (‘Atomic habits‘) And others get fatal (‘The monk who sold his Ferrari‘). And he suspected that the second could happen with him. Although I was interested in the subject – the economy of attention – the book was going to stretch it to exhaustion.

So I uploaded it to notebooklm and I asked him to do something better than a summary: a conversation, a podcast.

I asked him to simulate a talk between two voices to comment on the book, his ideas, his implications, his weak points. The result surprised me. It was not a memorable podcast, but interesting enough to stay attentive for eleven minutes while doing dinner.

It was a way of knowing if it was worth going further. After eleven minutes listening to circular discussions around the same idea, I decided not to do it. I will end up throwing some diagonal reading to chapters that interest me especially, but I will hardly invest the time to read it completely.

The next day I was repeating the experiment. This time with ‘The love algorithm‘, which is presented as an investigation into Tinder but actually goes much further. Explore the cross between technology, psychology, surveillance capitalism and human relations.

Each chapter opens a new line of reflection: the way in which desire is constructed, the way in which algorithms condition us, what ‘consent’ means in a digital environment. That book was perfect for Notebooklm. It generated a rich conversation, without resulting, with diverse ideas that are linked and discussed.

He did not take away the desire to read it, on the contrary. He convinced me that it was a great idea.

Beyond the podcast, I took advantage that I had at hand ‘OPERATION ELOP‘, the book that speaks of the last years of Stephen Elop in front of Nokia, just before the sale to Microsoft. It was great to see his “line of study”, which even proposes a questionnaire to see if you understood the ideas well and retweet the information or not.

And you can go beyond books, of course. Take a few PDFs and discuss them. The same with articles with a conductive thread. The possibility of creating podcasts ad hoc Personalized – not something done for thousands, but for oneself – is bestial. Sometimes they are voices that arise from admiration, others from suspicion.

Of course, It is not perfect. I would love to adjust the duration of the audio. There are issues that could be dispatched in five minutes. Others well deserve an hour of debate. The personalization that allows right now is scarce, and summaries are rather short.

There are also limits: sometimes omits relevant data or remains superficial. And of course, The dreaded hallucinations with which you have to go with lead feet. Even with those failures, it is still useful as the first pass, as a tanteo before knowing if it is worth deepening more. Or to give us a first varnish of knowledge.

And something very valuable: It is we who put the sources. We do not listen to generalities difficult to draw or limit ourselves to completely alien editorial decisions. Your interests, your compilations, your readings.

Notebooklm does not replace reading or study, but it is A new entrance door. Fast, accessible, almost playfulto understand what something is going on. That previous decision, in this world of information on information and entertainment, is a good compass.

And one last lesson: the well -managed AI does not take away the work of learning, it takes away your fear of starting.

In Xataka | Google has put a price on the future of AI: $ 250 per month

Outstanding image | Xataka with Mockuuuups Studio