Everyone's tracking benchmarks. I'm watching this instead. 👀

Hi there,

So last week, everyone was watching the LLM benchmark wars.

Gemini 3 Pro drops.

Takes the crown.

Claude Opus 4.5 launches a few days later.

Takes it back.

Meanwhile Open AI sends out an email about a massive data breach at 10pm the night before Thanksgiving (yes, likely you are affected, check your inbox and stay informed).

And while everyone was watching that drama, Google quietly shipped something else that actually matters more IMO.

Two new features in NotebookLM that turned their mostly known for research assistant into an almost complete content ecosystem.

I upgraded to Pro the same day. Didn't hesitate.

Here's why.

what happened

NotebookLM has always been a research tool - you upload sources (PDFs, videos, docs) or you search for sources and it grounds its responses in those materials instead of hallucinating like ChatGPT often does.

But now it can turn those sources into infographics and full slide decks, powered by Nano Banana Pro (which Google also released this week🤯).

I tested it with a YouTube video I made. Asked for an infographic.

First version looked fine but generic - that AI aesthetic will shortly flood LinkedIn.

But then I gave it one instruction: "Make it minimalist and elegant. Simple icons. Use sage green as main color."

Regenerated in 90 seconds.

Completely different. Clean. Text & content precision is insanely accurate. Something I'd actually post.

next thing I tried

Deep Research + Slide generation.

I asked it to research raising kids in the AI era (messy prompt, just curious what would happen).

Seven minutes later: 47 curated sources. Studies. Expert opinions. All with direct links so I could verify credibility.

Then I told it to create a 12-slide deck with five practical tips for parents.

What came back:

• Custom graphics for each slide

• Citations from the actual research (!!!)

• Tone matched to the audience I described

• Fully downloadable as PDF

But here's where it gets interesting - these new features stack with everything NotebookLM already does.

it’s all about stacking

I covered NotebookLM's audio and video features in a previous video, but most people don't realize you can combine those features to create powerful workflows.

Upload your sources once. Generate multiple outputs for different purposes.

Example 1: You're preparing for a big client pitch.

Upload their company research, industry reports, your service offerings. Then generate:

• An audio overview you listen to on your commute (prepares you for conversations)

• A mind map that visualizes how their challenges connect to your solutions

• Custom slide deck for the actual meeting

• Infographic for your follow-up email

Same sources. Four different assets. Zero switching between tools.

Example 2: You're launching a course.

Upload your course outline and research. Generate:

• Video presentations (narrated slides) for each module

• Audio overviews students can listen to while commuting

• Mind maps for visual learners

• Infographics for social media promotion

• Full slide decks for live workshops

I've been testing combined workflows and my head is exploding with possibilities you can explore!

Job hunting?

Upload the company's LinkedIn, recent news, job description.

Generate an audio overview to prep for the interview while you're getting ready.

Create a mind map to understand their business model.

Build a slide deck showing how your experience maps to their needs.

Building a newsletter?

Research your topic, generate an audio overview to hear your content in a new format (catches gaps you missed), create infographics for social, build a mind map to see how ideas connect.

The shift is: you're not creating assets from scratch anymore. You're orchestrating one set of (reliable!!!) sources into multiple formats.

I made a full walkthrough tutorial YouTube video showing exactly how I created the infographic and the slide deck in NotebookLM and giving some additional use cases to try. Watch it here.

my prediction for 2026

While people obsess over frontier model benchmarks, and Google's is winning at times, it is also playing a different game.

They're stitching their entire ecosystem together.

Gemini 3 Pro for reasoning.

Nano Banana Pro for visuals.

NotebookLM as the hub for knowledge workers?

Deep Research connecting it all because the quality and reliability of the sources matter more than ever in the AI-generated slophouse that the internet is turning into.

NotebookLM works with sources you control, which means is hallucinates waaaaay less than any other LLM.

You see exactly where information comes from and fact-check everything.

ChatGPT might sound confident and be completely wrong.

NotebookLM shows its work.

what to try this week

Pick one thing you've already created. A video. Workshop notes. A framework. Research you did.

Upload it to NotebookLM or try Deep Research to research a topic from scratch.

(Free account works for most features! Even infographics & slides were included in the free accounts on the release date, but something glitched and they are currently unavailable - it might come back though!)

Try generating multiple formats from the same source:

• If you have a framework → create a mind map + infographic + slide deck

• If you have research → generate an audio overview to listen while you work + slides for presenting

• If you're prepping for something → audio overview for passive learning + mind map to see connections

Then customize the visual outputs. Give style instructions that match your brand. Add it to you Linkedin Post, a newsletter or an IG post.

I'm genuinely excited about what's possible here and how far NotebookLM will go in making our life as solopreneurs infinitely more enjoyable!

If you try it, hit reply and let me know!

Until next week,

Your AI Solopreneur Bestie, Elena

🚀 If you want to join my membership with more practical resources and a supportive community of people on a similar journey - check out the AI Solopreneur Club.