Google is renaming NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook. The product keeps working as its own app, but the new name ties it more closely to Google's Gemini family of AI tools. The Verge reported the change on July 16, 2026. Gemini Notebook will connect more deeply with the Gemini app and Google Search, and Google plans to bring notebooks into AI Mode, a chatbot-like experience within Search The Verge.

The product started in May 2023 as Project Tailwind and launched publicly as NotebookLM in July 2023. Google has added features over time, including AI-generated podcast summaries of users' notes in September 2024. More recent additions include a visual tool for exploring connections between sources like Docs, Slides, and websites, introduced in Google's May 2025 Workspace feature drop, and additional AI capabilities for NotebookLM and Sheets in the August 2025 Workspace Drop on August 27, 2025.

The deeper Gemini app integration is already partly in motion. Google recently began letting users connect their NotebookLM notebooks to the Gemini app, and the rename makes the brand alignment official.

A significant new feature is cloud-based code execution. Gemini Notebook can connect to a secure computer in the cloud to write and run code. Think of it as adding a small programming workspace inside your note-taking app, so you can test out ideas without leaving your notes. That feature is currently available to Google AI Ultra and Workspace business customers, and Google says it will roll out to Pro users on the web over the coming weeks.

The broader context here is one of brand consolidation. Google has been steadily bringing its AI products under the Gemini name, and NotebookLM, which had built its own recognition among users, now joins that umbrella. By bringing notebooks into AI Mode in Search and tightening the connection to the Gemini app, Google is positioning Gemini Notebook less as a standalone research tool and more as one piece of a broader AI workflow that spans search, conversation, and document analysis.

The code-execution feature moves the product closer to tools used by programmers and data analysts. Running code inside a note-taking app suggests Google sees value in letting people read, think through sources, and test ideas in one place. Restricting early access to higher-paying tiers before a wider rollout is a familiar pattern for Google features that require more computing power.

What stays the same is the standalone app itself. Despite the new name and deeper integrations, Gemini Notebook remains its own application rather than being folded into the Gemini app or Search. That decision keeps the product's existing workflows mostly in place while the new integration layers get built around them.

For organizations already using NotebookLM within Workspace, the practical near-term changes are twofold: the brand they see changes, and the code-execution feature, where available, adds a computational side to what has been a text-focused tool. The Pro-tier rollout of code execution, once it arrives, extends that feature to many more users.

Google has built this product step by step rather than all at once. From its start as Project Tailwind, through the podcast-summary feature that drew widespread attention, to the visual source-exploration tools and now cloud code execution, the product has grown at a measured pace. The rename to Gemini Notebook is the clearest sign yet that Google sees it as a key part of its Gemini strategy rather than an experiment, and the Search and Gemini app integrations are how that strategy takes shape.