Google's NotebookLM has been on a feature sprint lately, and the latest developments spotted by TestingCatalog suggest the tool is preparing to become more personal and more social. Currently in internal testing, a set of visual and collaborative updates point toward a broader ambition: turning NotebookLM from a utilitarian research assistant into something users want to curate and share.
A new home for all your real estate questions 🏡
— NotebookLM (@NotebookLM) February 18, 2026
Introducing a featured notebook from @Zillow for first-time home buyers! Explore expert insights from Zillow on how to prepare for buying, evaluate your finances, understand the market, avoid common pitfalls, & more!
Access it… pic.twitter.com/8lWnndBhx1
The most visible change is a custom banner image feature heading to the Magic View area of each notebook. Right now, notebooks are identified only by a title and an emoji icon, which makes distinguishing between projects difficult when you manage many at once. Featured notebooks created with partners like Zillow already display image banners, and Google appears ready to extend this capability to all users. A new "Customize" button, positioned in the header area, would let users upload their own images or potentially generate one using the Nano Banana 2 model.
Perhaps more interesting is a "Remix" button currently hidden in the interface. This would allow users to clone someone else's public notebook and use it as a starting point for their own research. Since Google introduced public notebook sharing in mid-2025, over 140,000 public notebooks have been created by the community. A remix function would create a natural feedback loop: users build notebooks, share them publicly, and others fork them to extend or adapt the work. While Google is unlikely to launch a full public feed or marketplace for notebooks, the remix concept still lowers the barrier for collaborative knowledge-building across the platform.
It remains possible that some of these features are being developed primarily for internal use, allowing Google employees and partners to produce polished featured notebooks more efficiently. But given NotebookLM's rapid pace of updates throughout early 2026, including Gemini 3.1 Pro integration and prompt-based slide revision, a public rollout would fit the trajectory. No timeline has been confirmed.
