Google’s New Podcast Maker: A Closer Look at Illuminate

Google has introduced a new tool called Illuminate, designed to create podcasts with the help of AI. Unlike its predecessor, NotebookLM, Illuminate focuses solely on crafting podcasts. The tool is currently limited to a select few, with a waitlist for broader access. Illuminate uses Google’s Gemini AI model, which can handle a massive amount of information at once. This model has a context window twice as large as its competitors, making it perfect for deep research on complex topics. To use Illuminate, you sign up and log in. Then, you can search for a topic, upload PDFs, or provide web links related to your subject. After feeding the material to the AI, you press a button, and a podcast is created. The podcast is a conversation between two voices, and you can adjust the settings to tailor the podcast to your needs. However, Illuminate has a significant limitation. It only processes scientific research from the arxiv. org website. This site contains millions of scholarly articles in various scientific fields. This focus helps Illuminate stand out from NotebookLM. While Illuminate is promising, it's still a work in progress. There are gaps that need further development. But the potential is clear: AI tools like Illuminate could revolutionize how we access and learn from information.