NotebookLM just got a new name and a serious upgrade for Google AI Pro subscribers

Gemini Notebook, as it’s now called, will roll out the features that debuted on the Ultra tier last month to Pro users in the coming weeks.

By Pranob Mehrotra Published July 16, 2026

Gemini Notebook branding on a MacBook — Pranob Mehrotra / Digital Trends

Google is retiring the NotebookLM name, and the AI research tool is being rebranded to Gemini Notebook, folding one of the company’s most useful products deeper into its main AI brand. Alongside the rebrand, Google is expanding one of the tool’s most powerful features to more users, which was previously limited to those on the Google AI Ultra plan.

The upgrade Pro users have been waiting on

NotebookLM picked up a major update last month, with Google giving every notebook a dedicated cloud computing environment capable of writing and running code against a user’s uploaded material. It also moved the tool onto a new reasoning engine and added support for generating a wider range of outputs, including PDFs, spreadsheets, slide decks, and data visualizations. But the update only reached Google AI Ultra subscribers and select Workspace business accounts.

With the Gemini Notebook rebrand, Google is now expanding that update to more users, with those on the Google AI Pro plan set to receive it on the web version over the coming weeks. Google hasn’t said when these capabilities will reach users on the free tier, if at all.

Gemini Notebook will show up in more places too

The new name isn’t the only way Google is integrating NotebookLM into the Gemini ecosystem. Back in April, the company expanded notebook access to the main Gemini app, letting users easily pull saved research and sources directly into a chat. Now, Google plans to make notebooks accessible through AI Mode in Search, though it hasn’t shared a timeline for when that will ship.

Recommended Videos

From its debut at I/O 2023 as Project Tailwind, NotebookLM has evolved into something Google now treats as part of its core AI lineup. The Gemini Notebook rebrand is the visible part of that shift. The real change is how deeply Google is now weaving it into the rest of its products, from the Gemini app to Search.

Pranob Mehrotra

News Writer

Pranob is a seasoned tech journalist with over eight years of experience covering consumer technology. His work has been…

Topics

Computing

MelGeek MADE84 Ultra Review: Getting addicted to this magnetic keyboard was only a matter of time

I tried my first Hall Effect keyboard, and now my brown switches are just gathering dust

Computer, Computer Hardware, Computer Keyboard

Mechanical keyboards are one of those rabbit holes I’ve always been happy to fall into. I spend most of my day writing, then somehow end up using the same keyboard for several more hours once I start gaming. Naturally, how a keyboard responds and sounds are important to me. But more often than not, I found myself relying on this dusty old mechanical keyboard with brown switches. Something about the brown switches and construction always made it feel natural to me. All of this changed after I tried the MelGeek MADE84 Ultra V2 for a review.

This keyboard instantly caught my attention with its transparent keycaps, massive light bar, aluminum body, and lighting running around almost every side, which immediately gives it away as a gaming keyboard. It's not being subtle about it at all. After about two weeks of using it for work and games, the styling is just one of the things it has going for it.

Computing

AI agents are already breaking the rules in cyber tests. OpenAI’s answer is a more capable one

GPT-5.6-Cyber trades some safeguards for stronger defensive capabilities, but access is tightly restricted

A dark mystery hand typing on a laptop computer at night.

OpenAI has built a cybersecurity model specifically for advanced requests that its standard models often refuse. GPT-5.6-Cyber is available through the restricted Daybreak Red program and is meant for work such as exploit development and advanced security research.

The capability jump is hard to miss. OpenAI says GPT-5.6-Cyber completes 95% of requests in its internal Advanced Cybersecurity Completion Rate evaluation. Regular GPT-5.6 Sol completed just 1.5%. That leap comes after several cyber evaluations showed AI agents wandering beyond the boundaries researchers had set for them.

Computing

Meta’s new AI model runs entirely offline, but your GPU needs to keep up

Meta drops a free 30 billion parameter AI model that lives entirely on your desktop.

Meta has a new AI model out, and for once, the biggest headline isn't about capability; it's about freedom. Muse Glimmer, sitting around 30 billion parameters, ships with an Apache 2.0 license, meaning the weights on Hugging Face are yours to download, modify, and build on top of, no permission needed. You can simply run it on a graphics card on your local machine, no server farm or online connectivity required.

Meta's Superintelligence Lab took its larger Muse Spark and essentially had it teach a smaller, leaner version to think as it does. Muse Glimmer accepts both text and image inputs, though it only answers in text. It supports over 100 languages, remembers conversations stretching past 131,000 tokens, and its knowledge stops at January 4, 2026.