Interactive reading: Gemini can answer questions and explore concepts directly from eligible e-book content.
Study tools: Readers can create summaries, quizzes, flashcards, audio overviews, and infographics.
Licensed access: Book ownership remains required, helping protect publisher and author control over copyrighted content.
A book can now do more than sit inside a digital library. Google has added a new AI feature that lets eligible Google Play Books titles work with Gemini Notebook, the product once known as NotebookLM. The feature, called Expert Intelligence, lets readers ask questions about a book, create study material, hear AI audio summaries, and explore key ideas in new formats. Google announced the feature on August 27, 2026, with access to more than 100,000 books. The supplied writing guide calls for clear subheads, direct language, strong openings, and one clear idea per paragraph.
Expert Intelligence puts an eligible Google Play Books title inside a Gemini Notebook. Once a book enters the notebook, Gemini can answer questions from its content instead of giving a broad answer from general AI knowledge. This gives the book a more direct role in the conversation.
A reader can ask about a chapter, concept, character, argument, or detail from the text. Gemini can then provide an answer based on the book itself. The feature can also create summaries, quizzes, and flashcards. This could help with study, research, revision, or a second look at a difficult section.
The system also supports Audio Overviews. This format can turn material from a book into an AI-generated audio discussion. Infographics offer another option, with Gemini able to present key information in a visual format.
Google has launched Expert Intelligence with more than 100,000 books from major publishers. The list includes Penguin Random House, Macmillan, Bloomsbury, De Gruyter Brill, Johns Hopkins University Press, and O’Reilly Media.
Google has also worked with more than 15 bestselling authors on special Featured Notebooks. These notebooks give readers curated ways to explore selected books through Gemini. The publisher partnerships also show a clear focus on trusted source material rather than open-ended AI answers.
The feature does not treat every book as an open AI source. Access depends on book ownership through Google Play Books, which adds an important limit to the system.
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Expert Intelligence requires ownership of an eligible Google Play Books title. A shared notebook does not give another person free access to the book itself. If a person receives a notebook linked to a title that the person does not own, Google asks for a separate purchase before access to the book content.
That rule gives publishers and authors a stronger level of control over copyrighted material. It also creates a clear link between a digital purchase and AI access to that title.
This approach marks a different path from a simple AI chatbot question about a famous book. Expert Intelligence puts licensed book content at the center of the experience.
Expert Intelligence is not Google’s only AI feature for digital books. Google introduced Book Insights inside Google Play Books in June 2026.
Book Insights can help readers catch up on earlier parts of a title, explain selected passages, and answer questions about characters or concepts. It also has a spoiler-free feature that limits answers to the part of the book already reached.
The two tools serve different purposes. Book Insights focuses on help during a book session inside Google Play Books. Expert Intelligence takes a full eligible title into Gemini Notebook and adds tools for study, discussion, audio, and visual content.
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Google has bigger plans for the technology behind Expert Intelligence. The company has said that similar access will reach Gemini and AI Mode in Search. Google also plans support for other trusted sources, such as third-party subscriptions, business research reports, and textbooks.
That shift could give AI tools a closer link to paid and specialist information. Instead of relying only on broad web knowledge or model training, Gemini could work with material that comes from a specific licensed source.
For readers, the biggest change may sit in that simple distinction. A digital book can now become a source for questions, study tools, audio content, and visual explanations without losing its place as the main reference. Google’s new feature turns the e-book from a static digital copy into a richer source for focused work.
1. What is Google’s Expert Intelligence feature?
It is an AI feature that lets eligible Google Play Books titles work with Gemini Notebook for interactive exploration and study.
2. What can readers do with an eligible e-book?
Readers can ask questions, generate summaries, quizzes, flashcards, Audio Overviews, and infographics based on the book.
3. How many books are available?
Google launched the feature with access to more than 100,000 books from major publishers.
4. Do I need to own the book?
Yes. Access to the book’s content through Expert Intelligence requires ownership of an eligible Google Play Books title.
5. How is Expert Intelligence different from Book Insights?
Book Insights works inside Google Play Books to help readers with passages and earlier content, while Expert Intelligence brings an eligible title into Gemini Notebook for broader AI-powered exploration.