AI & Lunch Recap: Exploring Google’s Gemini and Notebook LM

The first installment of the AI & Lunch series brought together a curious and engaged crowd for a deep dive into Google's emerging AI tools—Gemini and Notebook LM. featuring a demo-packed presentation by Michael Beauchamp, the session offered a glimpse into how artificial intelligence is reshaping digital workflows, communication, and data analysis.

Beauchamp kicked off the main content by reviewing recent headlines in the world of AI. The presentation then shifted to Gemini’s capabilities within Google Workspace. Beauchamp demonstrated how the AI can rewrite and polish email content, suggest thoughtful replies in Gmail, and even perform basic web searches without leaving the Workspace environment. The audience also got a glimpse into Google AI Studio’s functionality, including its ability to extract data from business cards, convert that data into CSV files, and attempt web scraping to fill in additional information. One particularly engaging example showed how Gemini processed images from a network site survey, analyzed the hardware, and produced a summary report—highlighting the tool’s ability to interpret both text and images.

The second half of the session explored Notebook LM, a newer tool designed for summarizing, expanding, and analyzing large sets of data. Beauchamp demonstrated how it could generate summaries, mind maps, glossaries, and even podcasts using a wide range of input formats such as Google Docs, Slides, PDFs, markdown files, and audio recordings. Notebook LM's design emphasizes security and precision, keeping data analysis confined to materials uploaded by the user—what Beauchamp referred to as a “walled garden” model to minimize hallucinations and ensure relevance.

The AI & Lunch session provided valuable insights into Google's Gemini and Notebook LM, showcasing their potential to transform various workflows. Michael Beauchamp's demonstrations highlighted the practical applications of these tools, from enhancing email communication to analyzing complex data sets. Thank you to the over 40 participants and contributed to the engaging discussion. We're excited to announce the next installment of AI & Lunch will be on May 14th, featuring Chris Haber from Easy AI. If you would like to speak with Local IT about customized ways to implement AI in your business please contact Michael at michael@asklocalit.com