Once you wean yourself away from the sensational and entertaining short-form videos, YouTube is a massive educational channel. I’ve always loved learning new skills like graphic design from YouTube, but I often wished I could string together diverse videos and turn them into a curriculum on my favorite topics. Maybe then treat the whole bunch like a podcast I could replay during walks or workouts. That’s when I discovered how NotebookLM can turn a YouTube playlist into an AI-generated study podcast. Here’s what worked for me, what didn’t, and a few creative ways you can take this idea further.
Gather your playlist with purpose
A focused playlist becomes your study curriculum
The first stumbling block of knowledge acquisition is overwhelm. There’s just too much out there. I put in a lot of effort to pick high-quality sources. Using a search chatbot like Perplexity is part of my toolkit at this stage. The process starts with picking a playlist that builds knowledge step-by-step instead of jumping across unrelated topics. The tighter the theme, the better NotebookLM handles summaries. I learned that curating a “curriculum-style” playlist—like a full course or lecture series—makes the AI’s podcast output more coherent and useful.
Before uploading, I scan the video titles again and ensure they follow a logical flow. Think of it as creating your own syllabus. A focused playlist sets the stage for a focused podcast.
Add videos to NotebookLM
Let the AI handle transcripts while you focus on learning
NotebookLM makes importing videos remarkably simple. You can paste YouTube URLs directly, and it automatically pulls in the transcripts for analysis. If you’re dealing with a long playlist, try the YouTube to NotebookLM Chrome extension. It batch-imports all videos in one click and creates a clean new notebook for them. I used it to bring in over 30 clips in minutes, which NotebookLM instantly processed into usable text.
Organize sources in a new notebook
Structure matters when you want clarity later
Once imported, I recommend creating one dedicated notebook per subject. Each video becomes an individual source within it. NotebookLM performs best when its data is contextually consistent—so don’t mix TED Talks on “behavioral science” with TED Talks on “time management.”
I tweak the name of notebooks using a three-word system: Topic – Subtopic – Format (for example: “Behavioral Science – Tiny Habits – Playlist”). It helps me return later and instantly recall the context. Think up one of your own.
A well-organized notebook doesn’t just help the AI; it helps you later, as you can then use all NotebookLM features seamlessly to learn something new and become a better learner with a study strategy.
As of now, NotebookLM doesn’t offer a drag-and-drop feature to change the order of sources, as you can do in a YouTube playlist. The Chrome extension also doesn’t seem to import it in the same order. One of the workarounds is to rename the sources with a number after the NotebookLM import.
Generate the audio overview
Watch NotebookLM turn lectures into a podcast conversation
Here’s where the magic happens. Using the Audio Overview feature, I asked NotebookLM to generate a podcast, which is usually a conversational chat between two AI hosts summarizing key points from the playlist.
It condensed almost six hours of content into friendly dialogue, while unpacking complex ideas. I could even customize the focus: one version summarized the main ideas; another dug into examples and analogies.
The Customize button lets you adjust the format for the depth and focus you want. This is ideal when you want, say, only high-level takeaways before an exam or a detailed recap after one.
Listen, share, or download
Treat it like a podcast built by you
Once your AI-generated podcast is ready, you can listen to it right inside NotebookLM or download it for offline playback. I liked speeding it up to 1.2x and listening during my downtime.
The ability to share notebook links makes it a perfect tool for group study sessions, too. A friend and I even created parallel notebooks and swapped audio summaries to learn from each other’s sources. And when we met, we tested each other with a few quizzes.
Blend your reflections with AI clarity
A NotebookLM summary just scratches the surface. Like all chatbots, it thrives when you engage with it using the right prompts. After every few videos, I’d prompt it to “combine my notes with the main takeaways.” My own notes are a retrieval practice for me, helping me consolidate the knowledge. The AI then merged my perspective with its own summary, turning the transcript into something much more personal and memorable.
This mix of reflection and synthesis turned the podcast from a passive review tool into an active learning journal. Of course, you can use NotebookLM just for audio summaries and then use ChatGPT for studying too.
Use NotebookLM as your study coach
Ask follow-up prompts that connect the dots
Once AI understood the playlist, I started asking it bigger questions: “What connects the ideas in videos 3, 7, and 9?” or “Give me a list of real-world examples mentioned in the videos.”
NotebookLM’s cross-source reasoning made the summaries feel like insights from a tutor who knows the material deeply. This helped me move from memorizing facts to building a scaffolding for the knowledge. Try out your own questions and the automatic suggestions from NotebookLM. Add them to your sources by clicking on Save to note and then Convert to source.
Build flashcards and quiz yourself
Turn notes into interactive memory aids
After generating the podcast, I use NotebookLM to build flashcards, quizzes, or mindmaps. These different NotebookLM features are perfect for multimodal study. For instance, let it automatically create the cards or use your own custom prompts like “Create 10 Q&A cards from this notebook”.
I reviewed these cards right before listening to the next AI episode. It has become a study habit: quiz, listen, reflect, repeat. Over time, this method strengthened recall far better than just rewatching videos.
Treat NotebookLM as a living textbook that grows with you
Each time you add or edit sources, NotebookLM updates its understanding. That means your AI podcast evolves as your playlist expands. I occasionally added newer videos, regenerated the Audio Overview, and got an updated conversation that integrated the new material seamlessly. This incremental approach to learning turns NotebookLM into a collaborative wisdom bank.