Google Renames NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook and Adds Code-Running Features
The AI note-taking app gets a new name and new powers, including the ability to write and run code in a secure cloud environment.
Key points
- Google announced on 16 July 2026 that NotebookLM is being renamed Gemini Notebook.
- The app will remain standalone but will connect more deeply with Google Search's AI Mode.
- A new feature lets the app write and run code inside a secure cloud computer.
- Code execution is available now for Google AI Ultra and Workspace business subscribers, with Pro users on the web to follow in coming weeks.
Google's AI note-taking app has a new name. On Thursday 16 July 2026, the company announced that NotebookLM, its tool for summarising and organising documents using artificial intelligence, is now called Gemini Notebook. It'll stay a separate app, but Google is weaving it more tightly into its wider Gemini ecosystem and into Google Search.
The app started life as "Project Tailwind," teased in May 2023. Since then it's grown well beyond basic note-taking. Users can already turn their notes into AI-generated podcasts, narrated slideshows, and TikTok-style clips. Google recently added a link between notebooks and the Gemini app, its general-purpose AI assistant.
Next up: notebooks inside AI Mode, Google's conversational layer built into Search. That integration is coming; no firm date has been given.
What does the new code feature actually do?
The most practically interesting change isn't the name. Google is now letting Gemini Notebook connect to a secure cloud computer, a remote machine Google controls, so the app can write small programs and run them immediately. Think of it as giving the notebook a calculator that can handle data analysis and file conversions automatically, rather than just describing how those things work.
The Verge AI first reported the feature, which Google had previewed last month. It's live now for Google AI Ultra subscribers, the company's top-tier paid plan, and for businesses using Google Workspace. Pro plan users get access through the web interface over the coming weeks.
The practical effect is straightforward. Paste a spreadsheet of sales figures into your notebook and the app can now analyse the numbers and return a result, not just a written summary of what those numbers look like. That's a real shift from a tool that explains to one that does.
We've covered this product's evolution since 14 July 2026, when NotebookLM first appeared in our reporting alongside other Gemini-powered rollouts.
The rebrand signals something bigger. Google built Gemini as the name customers will see across all its AI products, from its chatbot to its phone features to its notebook. Keeping Gemini Notebook standalone while connecting it to Search and the Gemini assistant suggests Google wants a single AI layer underneath everything, without forcing users into one interface.
Should you worry about your existing notes?
If you use NotebookLM today, nothing changes yet. Your notes stay where they are. Watch for a name change in the app header and, if you're a Pro subscriber, a prompt in the coming weeks offering the new code feature.
