The Best AI Tool for Writers — And How to Use It

Last week, we hosted our first-ever Author Insider event — a virtual workshop led by Steven Johnson.

Steven, as you probably know, is the bestselling author of books like Extra Life, The Ghost Map, and Where Good Ideas Come From. His work frequently appears in the New York Times Magazine, and he’s hosted several celebrated TV shows and podcasts.

A few years ago, however, his career took an unexpected turn. Some folks at Google Labs, the tech giant’s internal incubator for outlandish projects, heard about Steven’s lifelong fascination with “tools for thought” — software designed to organize, remix, and augment research and ideation — and asked for his help building one of their own.

The result is NotebookLM. It’s a one-of-a-kind source-grounded AI research assistant. It allows you to upload documents — or “sources” in NotebookLM parlance (these could be research materials, notes, drafts, or even whole books) — and have an open-ended conversation with them.

Put another way: it’s an AI tool built by a writer for writers.

In the workshop, Steven demoed his own NotebookLM workflow, showing how he’s using it to plan a documentary, research his next book, interact with the years-in-the-making trove of highlights he has collected from books and articles, and more.

Today, we’re sharing a recording of the event along with an interactive transcript.¹ These are only available to paid subscribers. If you’re not yet a paid subscriber, you can upgrade here:

Finally, one piece of housekeeping: our next virtual event will take place on April 24th at 3:30 p.m. ET. It’s an AMA with #1 New York Times bestselling author Gretchen Rubin. This is a special opportunity to ask Gretchen anything you want about her writing process, podcast, business, and more. The event is only open to Founding Members. Become a Founding Member today, and we’ll share an invite to Gretchen’s AMA.