Though Google advertises NotebookLM as an “AI-powered research partner,” I think it’s quite a versatile tool. Using it to study for college exams, learn new programming languages, or even figure out how to brew a proper cup of coffee are all vastly different use cases, but they still fall under the umbrella of research in the grand scheme of things.

Although there are countless ways to use NotebookLM, that does not make it a personal knowledge management (PKM) system. And frankly, it's time we stopped treating it as one.

First up, what even is a PKM system?

Let’s understand what a PKM really is

PKMs, which stands for Personal Knowledge Management, is essentially a process you use to collect, organize, keep track of, and retrieve all the information you store. Instead of just giving you a place to hoard everything you want to keep, PKM systems are meant to help you turn all that data into something meaningful that you can actually use, build on, and return to whenever you need it.

There are a number of tools that are built specifically for this purpose, and come with features needed to support long-term knowledge management. While they all work slightly differently and are built to fit different workflows, they share the same core goal of helping you create a long-lasting knowledge base that grows with you. Two popular PKM systems you have surely heard of before include Notion and Obsidian.

NotebookLM can’t truly tie together disparate ideas

Mind maps don’t make a brain

A few of my colleagues have previously used NotebookLM as a PKM, and even ditched tools like Notion in favor of it. Naturally, I was inclined to try the same and see whether it could actually replace a full-fledged system. After just a few days, I noticed a bunch of gaps. The biggest one was how NotebookLM didn't offer a way to truly connect ideas across notes.

Now, NotebookLM offers excellent features like Mind Maps that are essentially designed to help you find links and connections across sources. Even the ability to query your sources and get grounded answers alone is an incredible way to find connections you likely wouldn't have noticed yourself. However, all these abilities only work when you have all the information you'd like to analyze uploaded as a cohesive source set within one notebook.

This is the crucial difference: the connections it makes are internal to your sources and linear (AI finding links within the documents). For instance, Obsidian's Graph View is something that's frequently pitted against NotebookLM's Mind Maps for visualization. The key difference is that Obsidian creates a live, evolving map of all your notes and their interconnections, allowing ideas to link across projects, topics, and time, while NotebookLM's Mind Maps are limited to the specific documents you’ve uploaded at that moment.

NotebookLM is completely reliant on sources, and you can do nothing within the tool without uploading your sources. Its connection-making capabilities simply stop exactly where your uploaded documents end. And while this is truly great when you want to work only within the context of your own sources, it becomes limiting when you want your notes, ideas, and research to interact and evolve over time.

NotebookLM doesn't offer any solid note-taking features

Not actually a notebook, huh

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: NotebookLM is not a note-taking app. While its name including notebook does make it sound like one, none of the features it offers reflect the core functions of a true note-taking system.

For instance, the only feature you'll find that resembles traditional note-taking is the ability to create notes within notebooks. I personally think that feature is meant to be used when you want to take note of something you notice while analyzing your sources, rather than to build, organize, and connect your own evolving ideas over time.

Given NotebookLM has absolutely no organizational features, there’s no way to structure, categorize, or link your notes meaningfully, making it nearly impossible to use as a true personal knowledge management system.

To access notes you create within NotebookLM notebooks, you need to locate that individual note within its specific notebook. There’s no way to get an overview of all your notes across notebooks or see how they relate to one another.

With NotebookLM, future-proofing your knowledge is difficult

Good luck taking it with you

Another issue with NotebookLM is how all your knowledge is essentially locked within its ecosystem. For instance, with Obsidian, all your files are stored locally on your device in Markdown. This means they can be easily backed up or opened in other editors, giving you full control over your notes and ensuring your knowledge remains accessible long-term.

Even if Obsidian were to disappear tomorrow, you’d still have all your notes in a universal format, whereas with NotebookLM, your content is tied to the platform and could be lost or become inaccessible if the service changes or shuts down.

The most you can really do to future-proof your NotebookLM content is manually copy or export the chats you generate. There are a few browser extensions out there that let you do that now, like NotebookLM to PDF. Nonetheless, there’s still no single, one-click way to export everything you’ve created or preserve your entire knowledge base in an open, future-proof format.

You’re better off using NotebookLM alongside a real PKM, not in place of one

Frankly, the best approach is to use NotebookLM alongside one of the PKM systems that’s actually built for long-term organization and growth. Let NotebookLM handle what it excels at. This way, you’ll be able to enjoy its strengths without sacrificing the structure, flexibility, and long-term reliability that a true PKM system provides.