Have you experimented with the relatively new video creation feature in Google Notebook LM?
When this feature first appeared, I immediately gravitated toward the cinematic video option. The results were visually engaging, and I found them to be an interesting way to reinterpret genealogical research.
So naturally, when I created an ABC Biography project for Angelina Jane Burke Currey, I decided to try the cinematic format using her RootsMagic narrative report as the source.
At first glance, the results seemed impressive.
The audio narration was excellent—engaging, well-paced, and an enjoyable retelling of Angelina’s story.
But then I noticed a problem.
While discussing Angelina’s birth in Kentucky, the accompanying visuals displayed an image associated with Posey County, Indiana.
That immediately raised a red flag.
I have found no evidence placing Angelina or her family in Posey County, Indiana. Including that image unintentionally introduces false information into the story. A viewer unfamiliar with the research could easily assume the location was relevant to Angelina’s life.
That’s one of the challenges with AI-generated visual storytelling. Even when the narration is grounded in your source material, the visuals may be selected through association rather than genealogical accuracy.
Thinking I could fix the issue, I tried creating a more detailed prompt to guide the visuals.
Unfortunately, that attempt introduced even more visual discrepancies.
Instead of improving the accuracy, the additional prompting seemed to send Notebook LM in less predictable directions.
At that point, I tried a different approach.
Rather than choosing the cinematic option, I selected the explainer video format.
To my surprise, the explainer version worked much better.
The visuals were simpler, but they aligned far more closely with Angelina’s actual story and did not introduce obvious factual errors.
This experience was a useful reminder that AI-generated content still requires human review—especially in genealogy.
The narration may sound authoritative. The visuals may look convincing. But “convincing” and “correct” are not always the same thing.
For storytelling, the cinematic videos are certainly attractive.
For genealogical accuracy?
At least in this case, the explainer video proved to be the better choice.
Have you experimented with Notebook LM’s video features? If so, have you found the cinematic version accurate—or creatively adventurous?