NotebookLM: Investing ‘Use Case’ (Interactive Podcasting)
Experimenting with NotebookLM – Interactive Podcasting
I’m already using Google’s NotebookLM daily, within my investing research activities. But the December update to the already existing ‘Podcast’ feature takes the experience to an almost unbelievable (yes I did call it ‘Bonkers’) level.
The already established content consumption mode of Podcasting has now taken a very interesting twist, with potential benefits to us DIY-Investors.
Enhancing the advantages of AI Research Assistants
I have said many times that I believe that there are many simple AI applications that we can all use to assist with our investing research. To me one of the biggest changes comes from the advantages gained by our AI ‘Agents’ (Research Assistants) in being able to analyse vast quantities of information quickly and efficiently. This saves me and you, if you choose to use it, tons of time! I would also argue that the quality of the output is better too… we’re less likely to miss the detail, often buried deeply in notes or appendices to reports.
As for speed? Cedric has been been able to easily analyse 50-60 page interim reports and put the results in context against forecasts. He then includes technical analysis and provides me with a report – all well before the market opens at 8am!
Let’s take a quick glimpse of the interaction with NotebookLM, used to analyse a UK listed company ‘TruFin plc’…
The ‘use case’ – Analysing Company Reports
For any companies that you own (or are considering buying), you need to provide your AI Agent or ‘Research Assistant’ with data to analyse. This can be; Statutory Accounts, other company reports, RNS announcements, price charts [yes the AI can read and analyse them] + corporate presentations etc. You can get your ‘trained Research Assistant’ to just focus on this data – i.e. ignore internet ‘noise’ (bulletin boards, press etc) and give you analysis based on the facts/data that you choose.
By restricting the focus, you avoid the AI Agent “hallucinating”… the term used for unreliable and innacurate output.
You can also train your Ai assistant to produce output tailored to meet your requirements… so, for example, I get Cedric (my assistant) to add a risk warning and date in his signature block. Cedric can have multiple tools at his disposal, as shown when he used Gemini 2.0 Flash recently.
The Interactive Podcast Experiment: using Cedric’s TruFin plc [TRU] Analysis
For this experiment, using the NotebookLM AI feature that creates a ‘Podcast’, I added:
- Cedric’s Analysis Report (which included comparisons with previous year and forecasts)
- The Interim Results for TRU (17th September 2024)
- Two RNS Trading Updates provided by the Company (18th Nov & 5th Dec 2024)
- Two Charts (from ShareScope) – one showing the price history since TruFin’s IPO (2018) and the second covering a period of 2 years.
The Podcast, from this analysis, is then available to listen to when you choose. There’s an even more fascinating aspect of this which is the ability to interact with the (AI) podcasters and they will interact with you… answering your question, before getting back to their presentation. At present, this involves a human manually pressing a ‘join’ button… but it’s only a matter of time before that will be voice activated I’m sure!
Are there positive benefits for DIY-Investors
For us DIY-investors, using these new AI tools, the potential gains are significant. We can become better informed about the companies that we hold shares in, or are considering buying. Our time is leveraged by the engagement with out ‘trained’ AI Researchers putting us on a par with professional analysts.
However, I also need to remind you that we all need to make up our own minds and/or take appropriate professional financial advice, when making financial decisions… DYOR!
Conclusion: NotebookLM Interactive Podcasting is a true ‘Gamechanger’
Podcasting is a fast growing method of content consumption, having the benefit of ease of listening, while doing other perhaps mundane tasks… for me that means household chores! You might choose to listen while having your breakfast, soaking in the bath, or perhaps having your breakfast.
The most fascinating aspect of this, is the ability to interact with the (AI) podcasters and having them interact with you… answering your question(s), before getting back to their presentation. This is illustrated nicely by the recorded video of me interacting with the NotebookLM Podcast about TruFin plc.
I’d be grateful for your feedback about this experiment and please let me know whether you’re interested in finding out more about the “How to” aspects of setting up NotebookLM for your own investing use case(s).