On 2 December 2024, Raiza Martin, the leader behind Google’s NotebookLM project, announced her departure after 5 ½ years with the company. The announcement, shared on Discord and LinkedIn, not only marked the end of her tenure at Google but also raised questions about the future of NotebookLM, an ambitious AI-powered tool that has grown to global prominence.
Martin isn’t leaving alone. Joining her are Jason Spielman, a creative product designer, and Stephen Hughes, the lead engineer responsible for much of NotebookLM’s technical architecture. Together, the trio is setting out to launch a new startup, signalling a bold new chapter in their careers.
“We’re building something transformative,” Martin hinted, sharing a link to their website, werebuilding.ai, but offering few details about the venture. What is clear, however, is that the departure of these key players leaves a noticeable gap in the leadership of NotebookLM, which is now expected to continue under new management within Google.
The Rise of NotebookLM
NotebookLM began its life as a small experimental project called “Talk to Small Corpus,” designed to let users interact with personal data using large language models (LLMs). It was Martin’s vision that turned the concept into something tangible, a tool that could summarise documents, answer questions, and eventually transform text into podcast-style audio.
By 2023, the project—then known as Project Tailwind—had gained enough traction to be showcased at Google I/O. The reception was overwhelmingly positive, prompting the team to expand its features and rebrand the product as NotebookLM. Within months, it was rolled out across over 200 countries and territories, gaining particular traction in regions like Japan, where multi-language support proved invaluable.
Martin wasn’t working alone. Spielman and Hughes brought complementary skills to the table. Spielman, who collaborated closely with Martin during the pandemic, focused on ensuring NotebookLM’s user interface was intuitive and accessible. His work with tools like Figma helped refine the product’s design, even as the team adapted to remote work conditions.
Hughes, meanwhile, became the technical backbone of the team, implementing advanced features like Gemini 1.5’s long-context capabilities, which enabled NotebookLM to handle complex, multi-document interactions. His engineering expertise allowed the product to scale while maintaining reliability for millions of users.
But the story of NotebookLM isn’t just about its core team. The project benefited from cross-departmental collaboration within Google. The DeepMind audio team partnered to develop the “Audio Overviews” feature, transforming documents into engaging, podcast-style summaries. Renowned author Steven Johnson, who served as the Editorial Director, also played a key role in shaping NotebookLM’s conversational tone and structuring its content to maximise user engagement.
A Small Team, Big Challenges
Despite its success, the development of NotebookLM wasn’t without its challenges. The team made a deliberate choice to remain small and agile, a decision that allowed for rapid innovation but sometimes came at the expense of user-facing resources. One notable criticism has been the lack of comprehensive documentation, leaving some users frustrated with the product’s learning curve.
This tension between innovation and accessibility raises questions about how Google will steer NotebookLM without its original core team. As Martin expressed confidence in her farewell, “There is a lot in store on the horizon,” the specifics of the product’s future direction remain unclear.
What’s Next for NotebookLM—and Its Creators?
NotebookLM is poised at a critical juncture. The remaining team at Google will likely need to address long-standing user concerns, such as improving documentation and onboarding, while continuing to expand the product’s capabilities. Potential growth areas include supporting non-textual inputs like handwritten notes or images and deeper integration with Google Workspace, which could make NotebookLM indispensable for enterprise users.
For Martin, Spielman, and Hughes, the road ahead looks just as ambitious. Their new startup, still under wraps, reflects their shared ambition to build something groundbreaking. The trio’s expertise—spanning leadership, design, and engineering—positions them to tackle challenges in AI, productivity, or perhaps entirely new domains.
While NotebookLM will continue under Google’s stewardship, its evolution will inevitably bear the marks of its creators. As for Martin and her team, their departure signals more than just a career change—it’s the start of a bold experiment that could have just as much impact as the tool they leave behind.
