Patrick is a seasoned writer with more than a decade of experience, specializing in any and all things tech. His work has been featured on platforms like CNET, Yahoo, Xfinity, and many other outlets. When not typing away, he can be found with his nose in a book.
NotebookLM is one of the most powerful tools available to us today, but it boasts a major, glaring downside: you're completely locked in to Google, and all of your data is available for review. Even though privacy is implied, it's not guaranteed. Also, Google doesn't exactly have the best track record of maintaining projects in the long-term (remember Stadia?) For writers with multi-year-long novel projects, that's not acceptable.
By pairing Obsidian with a local AI, I not only maintain complete control of my data but also my privacy. I don't have to worry that Google shutting down a service will leave me in a lurch, nor do I worry about someone stumbling across sensitive information. To put things in context, I'm working on a novel with a large amount of sources and research material. I built an assistant that is able to search that entire library, all on-device. Here's how.
Smart Connections is the key
It automatically looks for similar notes
The Smart Connections plugin is so much more powerful than many users give it credit for. It uses a local AI to create a model of your vault, and then uses that model to suggest other notes and files that may be related to what you currently have open. Smart Connections provides a numerical score between 0 and 1 of how relevant a note is, pushing those with the highest scores to the top of the list. It's an easy way to see related notes at a glance.
Smart Lookup is another crucial aspect of the plugin. I can use it to query my full vault, looking for specific bits of information. For example, I can search for the monsters a character has fought, and Smart Lookup will automatically surface all relevant notes. And because Smart Lookup uses semantic search, it understands the meaning of the query, meaning that it doesn't just look for keywords like "monster," but instead will show all results related to the question.
Please stop using NotebookLM as a personal knowledge management system
Please, just stop.
Posts 30
By Mahnoor Faisal
Copilot for Obsidian supplies natural conversation
You can provide a local AI
If you want to chat with your entire vault like you would an AI, the Copilot for Obsidian plugin is the solution you're looking for. This plugin lets you use your own API keys and stores data locally, so your information isn't uploaded to a cloud provider (unless you use something like OpenAI, Claude, etc.). The Pro tier unlocks even more features, including the ability for Copilot to edit and write new notes, search the web, and more. While NotebookLM can interpret queries in a more human-like way, it takes time; Copilot is often faster, and in my experience, gives more accurate results.
My data is under my control
Privacy is paramount
AI training on published works is a major concern in the creative community; in fact, a relatively large lawsuit against Anthropic just closed in the last few months concerning copyright infringement towards authors, alleging unauthorized use of their works as training materials. NotebookLM is designed to be a private platform, but there are still plenty of ways information can leak. Forgetting to log out of a public computer, experiencing a glitch, or simply mis-clicking your privacy settings can reveal your NotebookLM library to others. By using Obsidian and local entities, I can ensure my information never leaves my machine unless I want it to.
But setting up Obsidian to do this is a complicated process, and NotebookLM is easier
It just works
From a privacy standpoint, NotebookLM isn't the best, but from an ease-of-use perspective? It's hard to beat. Getting set up with a notebook is simple. You create it, drag in your sources, and you can start querying all of that information within seconds. Much of its functionality is free, too. With Copilot for Obsidian, you need to configure local models or pay for an API key and credits to get any real functionality out of it. There are also features available with NotebookLM that Obsidian can't match, like the ability to generate a "podcast" between two AI hosts. While that style might not be for everyone, it can be a valuable study tool for absorbing complex information or just looking at the contents of your vault in a different way.
4 reasons Open Notebook is the best self-hosted NotebookLM alternative
No need to share your research data with Google anymore
Posts 1
By Ayush Pande
The initial time investment is worth the effort
Once it's done, it's done
Setting up an Obsidian workflow that rivals NotebookLM can be a complicated process, but for the most part, once you finish that setup phase, you're done. From that point on, you're in the clear. You don't have to worry about a third-party server suffering a data breach and leaking your information, nor do you have to worry about Google making an arbitrary decision to shut down a service it offers. The biggest concern is that one of the plugins will stop receiving support, but barring that, everything should run smoothly. There's also another factor: NotebookLM has limits. The free version allows 50 sources per notebook, while the Pro plan allows up to 300. When researching a novel, I can exceed 50 sources for a single chapter. Obsidian doesn't place limits on what I can reference. While it might not go feature-for-feature with NotebookLM, it's enough for what I need.
Obsidian is the Swiss Army knife of digital tools
I use Obsidian for nearly every aspect of my workflow now, and it continues to prove its utility. The fact that I can use it as an on-device research assistant, rather than revealing everything to NotebookLM, is yet another reason why I rely on the app as much as I do.
Obsidian
Obsidian is a feature-rich note-taking app that's available on different platforms and offers a neat and clean interface. It's also free-to-use for individuals.
Download Obsidian
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