I had a few minutes earlier this week so I decided to do an experiment using two free AI platforms – Perplexity.ai and NotebookLM. To reduce bias I asked ChatGPT to describe and compare them.
ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, is a conversational AI designed to help with a wide range of tasks like answering questions, drafting emails, brainstorming, and creative writing. Instead of searching the web, it uses its large pre-trained knowledge base to provide clear and helpful answers. What makes it different from tools like Perplexity and NotebookLM is its versatility. While Perplexity pulls from live web sources and NotebookLM focuses on managing user-uploaded content, ChatGPT excels at offering human-like, adaptable conversations for everything from research to creativity. It’s available in both free and paid versions, making it a go-to tool for boosting productivity and solving problems. I have the paid version and really love that I can seamlessly bounce between my phone app and the browser version.
Perplexity.ai is a conversational AI platform designed to answer questions and provide information using a combination of AI models and web sources. It functions similarly to a search engine but with the added ability to generate more human-like, conversational responses. Users can ask complex questions, and Perplexity.ai will pull from a variety of sources, including ones you upload should you choose, to generate accurate and well-rounded answers. Perplexity cites the sources it used to gather the information helping it become my go-to application for getting started on projects. With the paid version you can switch between LLMs, focus (academic, web, social, etc.), and convert your findings to an online magazine-style web page that you can share.
NotebookLM, developed by Google, with a lot of input from author Steven Johnson, is an AI-powered tool designed for personal knowledge management. It allows users to upload content (like PDFs, Google Docs, URL, notes) into the tool, then ask questions and interact with the content using AI. NotebookLM helps users make sense of their own materials, providing summaries, insights, and connections within the documents uploaded. It also provides share link. And on top of all that it produces a very human sounding podcast that is pretty much blowing minds everywhere.
For this experience I focused on Perplexity and NotebookLM so let’s look at how they are alike and different.
Similarities:
- AI-driven information retrieval: Both tools use AI to assist users in gathering and processing information.
- Conversational interface: Both platforms allow users to ask questions and interact with AI in a conversational format.
- Citing sources: Both tools emphasize transparency by referencing the sources or documents from which the information is derived.
Differences:
Primary focus:
- Perplexity focuses on retrieving and summarizing information from the web.
- NotebookLM is more focused on helping users organize, understand, and explore their own uploaded content.
Source material:
- Perplexity pulls information from various online sources, acting like a search engine.
- NotebookLM works directly with user-provided documents, allowing more personalized and in-depth exploration of specific content.
Use case:
- Perplexity is better for finding quick answers from the internet.
- NotebookLM is better suited for deep analysis or research using the user’s own materials.
I began by asking Perplexity several questions about agentic AI in workplace learning and development. Question one was about agentic AI’s overall impact on workplace learning. I took Perplexity’s excellent response to that and pasted it into NotebookLM as a text note.
I then went back to Perplexity and asked more specific questions about the topic. When I thought I had enough (subjective, I know), I published the page to a collection to get a public link to this magazine style Perplexity.ai page. The Perplexity page can be accessed without a login.
Then, you guessed it, I pasted that URL into NotebookLM. Then got the share link to that NotebookLM. And of course I then generated the podcast which I uploaded to Soundcloud for easier sharing. The NotebookLM link will ask you log in with your Google account.
This experiment – OK, quasi-expeeriment – offers some pretty interesting takeaways about how different AI tools can be used together.
- Perplexity is great for quickly pulling in answers from across the web, making it a solid choice when you need broad, high-level info fast.
- NotebookLM, on the other hand, really shines when you need to dive deeper into your own materials, helping you make sense of your specific documents in a more personalized way.
- ChatGPT is an excellent creative choice when you want a conversational co-creator.
By using them together, I got a feel for how these tools can complement each other—one for quick gathering and one for deeper exploration. And ChatGPT for everything else.
I’m just beginning to fully realize what can be created by combining different AI platforms!
Have you mashed up any AI tools?