AI is coming of age - as this potentially useful tool demonstrates

You don't have to like AI but you do have to live with it - it's not going away. So while we wait for the singularity, let's make it useful.

I've been playing with Google's NotebookLM, a tool which collates, summarizes and analyzes sources provided, helping users quickly grasp key points and easily access answers to questions. While it carries the warning "NotebookLM can be inaccurate; please double check its responses", one of the best aspects is that it links statements it makes to original sources so that they can be checked (AI coming of age). It can assist in brainstorming and generating ideas (through question prompts), making it a very useful tool in my limited experience so far.

As a first test, I took a loose collection of notes I have amassed on the Hemipteran family Anthocoridae and stuck them into a notebook. It can be difficult to pull information from these easily so decent summaries would be useful. As an LM (Language Model), visual input/output is non-existent (unless I've missed something), which is a shame as this would enhance the usefulness greatly. Unfortunately, it is not possible to share the whole notebook publicly (though it can be shared with selected users), but I can share some of the outputs it generates, such as this Anthocoridae Study Guide; the result of asking it to "Describe Anthocoris viscii"; and the podcast-style Audio Overview (audio playback takes a while to start, just wait): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DxBFzWq1w5BbfLpZU4oRbHFYWvt5300X/view

Here's another attempt: Leicestershire & Rutland Entomological Society: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YVKOlXTVUnqi6JhF2n0Eb4t5qUSc1L_Q/view

And finally, for Diptera fans: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HodYEFtP_Kau7SWrQaRi7PzAAGCd6bre/view

Obviously it's only as good as the sources provide - Garbage In, Garbage Out - but I'd suggest the best thing you can do is try it for yourself. I'm sure there are more useful things I can do with it than my stumbling attempts so far (and I'd welcome your ideas), but I'm even more sure that it's going to evolve and improve. Welcome to the future.