Notebook LM as the First Source Language Model?

AI Discussions
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Hi everyone — I’m currently working through AI For Everyone and exploring how AI can augment deep reflection, not just productivity. I wanted to share an idea I’ve been developing and see what you all think.

I believe Notebook LM might quietly represent the first true Source Language Model (SLM) — and this concept could reshape how we think about personal AI systems.

What’s an SLM?

We’re familiar with LLMs — Large Language Models trained on general web-scale corpora.

But an SLM would be different:

A Source Language Model is trained exclusively on your own documents, notes, thoughts, and frameworks.
It reflects your personal archive — not the collective internet.

Notebook LM, by only reading the files you upload and offering grounded responses based on them, seems to be the earliest public version of this.

Why This Matters:

I’m using Notebook LM to load curated reflections from 15+ years of thinking about:

  • AI, labor, and human dignity
  • UBI, post-capitalist economics
  • AI literacy and intentional learning design

I’m not just looking for retrieval — I’m trying to train a semantic mirror that helps me evolve my frameworks over time.

This leads me to a concept I’m developing called the Intention Language Model (ILM):

A future model that doesn’t just remember what you said — it reflects what you meant, what you’re building toward, and where your values point next.

Open Questions for This Community:

  1. Does “Source Language Model” make sense as a new model class — or is there a better term already in use?
  2. What features would an SLM or ILM need to move beyond retrieval and toward alignment with intention?
  3. Is this kind of structured self-reflection something current AI architecture supports — or would it require a hybrid model (SLM + LLM + memory)?
  4. Are there any academic papers or ongoing research on personal reflective models like this?

I know many of us are working on AI tools for productivity, search, or agents.
But I believe we’ll soon need tools that support intentional cognition, slow learning, and identity evolution.

Would love to hear your thoughts.
Happy to share more on my framework if anyone’s curious — and open to critique.

Thanks for reading.

1 Like
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I like how Source Language Model sounds. Looks exciting.

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Only recently heard about Notebook LM which as I understand it (from piece on Hard Fork) was developed by a writer to help refine his writing process. It’s a fun tool, though I’m not sure whether it’s the first Source Language Model exactly, not really knowing what is going on under the hood/in the background. I’ve been working on a novel and the MS Copilot built into word (using Open AI/Chat GPT?) gives really vague and dry summary and generic feedback….and of course offers to help improve pacing, etc. The document is too large for Claude Pro to examine, although it had been able to do so not long ago. But Notebook LM loads up the file and quickly generates all sorts of notes including the podcast-like 15 minute discussion of the novel, which is impressive.

I’m intrigued by your notion of intention especially in terms of human dignity, post-capitalist economics, literacy and learning (all elements of the novel, which includes an algorithmic collective intelligence entity designed to help local communities with decision support and networking). Having been immersed in academia for years, I find speculative fiction helpful in thinking outside the surveillance capitalism/techno feudalistic black box.