Google folds NotebookLM into Gemini and brings app actions to Search

Google is renaming NotebookLM as Gemini Notebook and adding tighter links between the research tool, Gemini and Workspace, while also bringing third-party app actions into Google Search. The changes matter because Google is using Gemini branding and distribution to pull more user workflows into its AI products, rather than treating research notebooks and Search as separate surfaces.

Josh Woodward, a Google vice president, said the notebook product is used by about 30 million people and 600,000 organizations. Google did not disclose paid user counts, revenue contribution, retention or Workspace conversion rates for the product.

The rebrand moves NotebookLM under the Gemini name, a branding shift that also signals where Google wants users to place the product: inside its broader AI stack. NotebookLM has been positioned as a tool for working with user-provided material, including documents and research sources. Under the Gemini Notebook name, Google is adding more execution capability, not just summarization and question answering.

Cloud computers for notebooks

Google said each notebook will get its own cloud computer that can write and run code. The feature will be available first to AI Ultra and Workspace customers, with broader availability planned over the coming weeks. Google did not provide a full timeline for all users or say whether the feature will carry separate usage limits or pricing.

The code-running capability puts Gemini Notebook closer to the agentic workspace category that large AI vendors have been pushing into: systems that can analyze files, generate outputs and perform computation inside a controlled environment. Google framed the upgrade as an improvement over the prior NotebookLM system, citing internal comparisons in which the new version beat its predecessor more than 65 percent of the time. For advanced web research tasks, Google said the win rate rose to 78.2 percent.

Those figures are internal benchmarks, and Google did not describe the full evaluation set, sample size or scoring criteria in the material cited. The numbers indicate the direction of the product work, but they do not give buyers much basis for comparing Gemini Notebook against rival research and workspace products.

Search gets connected apps

Separately, Google is extending connected app integrations from the Gemini app into Search. Starting this week in the United States, users can link selected third-party services through AI Mode and act on them from Search.

Initial examples include Instacart, Canva and YouTube Music. Google said users will be able to add ingredients to an Instacart cart, open Canva templates and create a YouTube Music playlist from within Search. More partners are expected, but Google did not name additional companies or provide a schedule.

The move gives Google another path to keep AI-assisted tasks inside Search at a time when standalone AI assistants are trying to replace parts of the search journey. For partners, integration could create distribution through Google’s highest-volume consumer surface, though the commercial terms and ranking mechanics were not disclosed.

Taken together, the announcements show Google tightening the connections among Gemini, Workspace, Search and third-party apps. The company is not just adding AI answers to existing products. It is trying to turn its products into execution layers where users can research, generate, compute and transact without leaving Google-controlled interfaces.

This story draws on original reporting from The Decoder.