Google’s excellent note-taking and research app gets a new name

Google is officially changing the name of its incredibly popular AI-powered note-taking and research app. Moving forward, NotebookLM will be known as Gemini Notebook.

If you’ve been following along, this app actually started out as an experiment called “Project Tailwind” back at Google I/O in 2023. It eventually morphed into NotebookLM, and over the past three years, it has exploded in popularity. According to Google, over 30 million people and 600,000 organizations are now using the tool to summarize documents, generate audio podcasts, and organize complex research.

The transition to Gemini Notebook makes total sense. Google has spent the last year unifying nearly every AI product under the Gemini banner, and ditching the clunky “LM” (Language Model) from the name is a smart move for mainstream adoption.

What is actually changing?

For the most part, Gemini Notebook remains the exact same app you know and love. Your existing notebooks are safe, and you won’t need to migrate any of your data. The core functionality—uploading PDFs, docs, and web links to create a grounded AI research assistant—remains completely intact.

However, Google isn’t just slapping a new logo on the app and calling it a day. Gemini Notebook is getting deeper integration across the ecosystem. You can already access notebooks directly inside the main Gemini app, and Google says it soon plans to bring your notebooks directly into AI Mode within Google Search.

An upgrade for complex research

Alongside the name change, Google is officially rolling out the major under-the-hood upgrade that was announced last month.

As part of this update, Gemini Notebook will now have secure cloud computing skills. This new capability gives every single notebook access to a secure, cloud-based computer that allows the Gemini AI to write and execute code natively on your behalf. Instead of just summarizing text, Gemini Notebook will now be able to run complex data analysis, perform calculations, and generate interactive charts or spreadsheets based strictly on the sources you provided.

This is a big step up for anyone using the tool for serious data work. This cloud computing feature is available today for Google AI Ultra subscribers and Workspace business customers. Google says it will roll out to all Google AI Pro users on the web over the next few weeks.

While I’m usually hesitant when Google starts renaming successful products, this feels like the right move. The tool is getting more and more powerful, and tying it directly to the Gemini brand should help even more people discover just how useful this research assistant actually is.