Google rolled out notebooks in Gemini Wednesday, creating shared project workspaces that sync between Gemini and NotebookLM. The feature lets Google AI Ultra, Pro, and Plus subscribers group conversations, files, and custom instructions into persistent project hubs on the web, with mobile and European rollout coming in the next few weeks. Each notebook becomes what Google calls a "knowledge base" that maintains context across sessions.
This is Google's answer to ChatGPT Projects, which I covered last year when they launched the same concept. The key difference: Google's leveraging NotebookLM's research capabilities to create deeper project memory. Instead of just organizing chats, you're building actual knowledge repositories that can reference uploaded documents, maintain custom instructions, and evolve conversations over time. It's positioning Gemini as the center of a new AI-powered workspace that could eventually pull in Google's entire product ecosystem.
What Google's announcement doesn't mention is how this compares to existing project management in other AI platforms. ChatGPT Projects already does most of this, and Claude has project memory through artifacts. The real test will be execution—can Google's integration actually deliver better context retention and cross-platform workflows than standalone solutions? NotebookLM's source grounding gives Google a unique angle, but the proof is in daily use.
For developers and power users, this matters if you're already in Google's ecosystem and need persistent AI project memory. The NotebookLM sync could be genuinely useful for research-heavy workflows where you need to reference specific documents across multiple AI interactions. But if you're platform-agnostic, ChatGPT Projects might still be the more mature option.