NotebookLM was built for learning and productivity first and foremost, its purpose being synthesizing research. But like most of the digital tools I use, I don’t keep it confined to work. Testing products and using them off-label is one of my favorite pastimes, and I’ve been doing that with NotebookLM since I've been using it.

You can technically feed it anything you want and it doesn’t have to relate to your work or studies. Some people use it to make sense of hobbies or assist with D&D campaigns, or even turning old texts into a funny podcast. There are a million ways you can get creative with it. Here’s how I use NotebookLM when I have nothing better to do…

Creating games

A design sandbox for game ideas

NotebookLM won’t spit out a board game from scratch the way ChatGPT could, but it’s surprisingly handy when you’re already in the design stage. I use it to refine rules and think through edge cases I might overlook. For example, say I have a card game or tabletop scenario in mind, I’ll feed all my notes and initial ideas to NotebookLM and ask it to point out any inconsistencies or potential exploits.

I actually recreated my own version of Magic this way. I fed it some documentation on Brandon Sanderson’s Law of Magic, plus my own ideas and everything that I’m working with in my deck, and NotebookLM helped me map out consistent mechanics by flagging interactions between some of the cards that could break the balance. I was hesitant about asking for advice on how to bridge those gaps, because NotebookLM didn’t have anything to reference other than the sources I gave it, but it actually had some cool suggestions like modifying mana costs and attack resolution orders.

Beyond refining existing games, I’ve also used it to brainstorm ideas for completely new games. But keep in mind that it won’t be able to create the best visuals, unless you manage to whip up something with the Slide Deck or Infographic features. Speaking of graphics…

Creating graphics

And they’re not half-bad

NotebookLM has three generative graphics features, namely the Slide Deck, Infographic, and Video Overview features in the Studio panel. I’ve written about “creating” a video using its Video Overview feature - it still required me to use a real video editor to stitch the usable clips together, but it wasn’t terrible.

If I’m already in NotebookLM doing something important, but then get the urge to doomscroll on socials, I just start playing around with its graphics features instead. It gives my brain the visual stimulus it wants, plus it sometimes gives me a different perspective of the sources I’m working with.

As I’ve mentioned, you can use these visuals as a foundation for a new game you’re creating, too. Sometimes they’re actually pretty good and you can download and print them out as-is. Don’t expect Midjourney or Adobe Firefly level generations, though - it doesn’t really give you much in terms of customization or prompt engineering.

Persona profiles

Feeding it a character and seeing how it reacts

This is an area some of us have already covered here at XDA - my colleagues have turned NotebookLM into a TikTok-style brainrot tutor, and I’ve turned it into an AI version of myself. Assigning a persona to NotebookLM basically all happens in the system prompt (go to the hamburger icon, select Custom, and add a prompt).

This is probably the epitome of “having nothing better to do”, or just playing around with a tool while you procrastinate. But it fills the time and is actually quite entertaining. All I do is give it a character profile of literally anything, and see what happens when I prompt it in the chat panel. I usually have the most success with made-up animal characters.

Creating riddles

Using sources as puzzle ideas

This is in the same vein as creating games, and everyone loves a good riddle. Instead of asking for another summary for the millionth time or generating quizzes, I get NotebookLM to create puzzles out of my source material. This forces me to think sideways about the content and lets me understand it from different angles.

I’ve actually also tried this in my notebook that has some ebooks, and since I tend to love the crime thriller and murder mystery genres, having NotebookLM turn plot points or hidden clues into riddles is surprisingly fun.

Extracting context from images

You can create anything

NotebookLM has made some notable changes to its OCR abilities over the years, and now it can extract context with pretty high accuracy. Not only is this helpful for work and research screenshots, but you can have the AI do anything you want with the content - spin it into quizzes, riddles, games, lore, fictional stories, or even create courses. I mostly use this as a way to remix boring visual inputs into something more fun when I don’t feel like doing real work.

Not everything has to be serious with NotebookLM

NotebookLM is obviously built for research and productivity, but that doesn’t mean it has to be used in such a rigid way. A lot of the time I open it out of habit without a clear goal, and that’s usually when I start poking around in a tool. Not only can you create cool things like riddles and stories, but you can also make learning more fun by assigning it a persona. The possibilities for curbing boredom are endless with NotebookLM.