Google offers a ton of AI tools, and if you’re trying to learn more about something or study, NotebookLM might be your first thought. It’s powerful, very fact-based as it only uses the sources you provide, and can turn your sources into unique outputs like podcasts and mind maps. But what if you don’t have sources on the topic you want to read, or you don’t need the bells and whistles of NotebookLM? Yes, Google has an AI tool for that, too. It’s called Read About.
Read About AI testing that does what you think it does. It is a conversational reading tool that allows you to learn about new topics in an organized and easy way. Like NotebookLM, you can upload a document and Read It will analyze it for you. Unlike NotebookLM, you can simply type the topic you want to read into the search box, and it will start working. It is not limited to the resources you provide.
The Read About output gives you an organized list of different pieces of information. It almost has a Wikipedia vibe. As you’d expect, you’ll find blocks of text with relevant information and images, but there will also be interactive lists that you can click on for more information. You will see “build your vocabulary” sections on a specific topic. If it finds a suitable YouTube video, it can also appear in the mix.
If you’re just starting to learn about a topic, you probably don’t know what you don’t know. Learning About recognizes this and will also have sections that ask questions you may not have thought to ask in order to learn more deeply.
Read about it can reveal common misconceptions about your topic. When I tried this tool, I wanted to know more about the Great Sphinx, and it showed the misconception that the nose of the Sphinx was shot by Napoleon’s soldiers, with the correction that it may have been injured centuries before Napoleon’s time. As with most pieces of information that Learn About provides, it will also provide you with the sources from which it obtained that information.
Under each section, Learn About encourages deeper learning by providing three buttons to simplify the topic, drill down or show images.
Learning About displays all the information you could want in an organized view.
To help you keep track of what you’ve learned, there’s a section on the left side of the screen that will show you the “big picture” of your topic, but also all the things you’ve clicked on within the interactive list you’ve provided, so you can jump back in if you need a refresher. From my time with it, this is the only thing that came up in this section as I clicked.
Those of you looking for a dedicated Learn About app may be disappointed, but you shouldn’t be. Unlike NotebookLM, Learn About is all about using the content it provides and not creating something new, like a video overview of your resources. It can be easily accessed through a mobile browser, and it fits small displays.
For both Chrome and Brave, Learn About says the experience is not supported on tablet devices
Like everything Google does, your chat history should be saved for easy access when you come back, but that wasn’t the case when I tried to access my Sphinx chat on my phone. And when I refreshed the page in my computer’s browser, the conversation was gone. While that is frustrating, this is still considered experimental at this point. Another limitation I ran into was when trying to access Learn About on my iPad Pro. In both Chrome and Brave, I was greeted with a banner stating that Learn About is not currently supported on tablet devices, but that was not the case when I tried it in the Safari browser.
Despite the issues I encountered, there’s a lot to like about Read About. It’s not overly complicated, and it doesn’t try to be anything it’s not. It’s a structured way of learning lessons through discussion, which can be great for students or anyone who is curious about learning something new.