Google Releases "NotebookLM": Renamed from "Project Tailwind" for a Limited Rollout

Google began offering its experimental AI notebook app, “NotebookLM.” The project, first unveiled as “Project Tailwind” at Google I/O in May 2023, was renamed and rolled out to a limited group of US users.

Details

• Concept: Unlike a general-purpose large language model, the app is designed around “grounding” — restricting its answers to only the documents a user has uploaded
• Background: Developed as a Google Labs project, led by author and Google Labs collaborator Steven Johnson
• Key features: Users can feed it sources such as Google Docs and have it summarize, answer questions, and help brainstorm ideas, with answers citing the original source material — positioned as a “personal AI research assistant”
• Availability: At announcement, the rollout was limited to a small group of users in the US

What happened next

While still experimental at this stage, NotebookLM was rolled out under a full brand push in 2024, expanding availability to researchers, students, and enterprise users. In September of that year, the addition of the widely talked-about “Audio Overviews” feature dramatically raised NotebookLM’s profile.