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NotebookLM Alternative: This AI Research Tool Helps You Finish the Work

By Universe of AI

Summary

## Key takeaways - **Logically Prioritizes Finishing Work**: NotebookLM is great at summarizing content, breaking down complex ideas, and helping you understand your sources faster. But Logically is an AI research tool that focuses less on explaining and more on actually helping you finish the work. [00:00], [00:31] - **Three Search Modes Available**: You have document retrieval using your uploaded files like textbooks or PDFs, Semantic Scholar with a database of about 200 million peer-reviewed research papers, and Google search for other public sources. [01:03], [01:44] - **Multiple AI Models Beyond Gemini**: Logically gives access to not only the Gemini model like NotebookLM, but also Gemini Flash, mini model, Haiku model, Gemini Pro 2.5, Claude Sonnet 4.5, and reasoning models like Gemini 3 pro preview, Claude Opus 4.5, GPT5 pro. [01:49], [02:41] - **Advanced Search Customizations**: Customize Semantic Scholar to include only open access papers, specific fields of study like history, publication types like review journals or clinical trials, and date ranges. For Google search, set time ranges, countries, languages, and limit or exclude domains. [04:35], [06:19] - **Integrated Writing with AI Assistance**: Logically combines Notion-like capabilities with NotebookLM, allowing you to write notes or entire research papers, generate outlines with AI, chat with research assistant alongside writing, get suggestions by highlighting text, and cite references with a single click. [06:30], [08:18] - **AI Guides, Doesn't Replace Writing**: Use AI to generate outlines and suggest cited sentences, but put in your own thoughts and ideas, letting the AI guide you to creating a really strong paper rather than replacing your work. [09:17], [09:56]

Topics Covered

  • Semantic Scholar Unlocks 200M Papers
  • Logically Beats NotebookLM on Model Choice
  • Precision Filters Beat Broad Searches
  • Write Papers with Inline AI Citations

Full Transcript

Notebookm is genuinely a very good research tool. It's great at summarizing

research tool. It's great at summarizing content, breaking down complex ideas, and helping you understand your sources faster. But today, I want to show you

faster. But today, I want to show you something a little different, an AI research tool that focuses less on explaining and more on actually helping you finish the work. Let me walk you

through logically. So, when you enter

through logically. So, when you enter Logically, you have three quick actions that you can take. You can create a document, upload materials like your sources or research with AI. I'll

explain all of these in more detail. But

let's go through all the product tours first when we do research with AI. So

this is probably what you're probably going to use most of the times. And this

is similar to notebook LM. So let me show you guys what it is. Okay. So you

can click on this chat feature here which is going to take you to the logically research assistant. So this is where you can actually chat with your papers like notebook LM. You can explore different websites and discover new

academic articles all under one area. So

when you go here, you actually have three different search modes. You have

document retrieval. So you can conduct your research using your uploaded files that you could put you could put your textbooks in there. You could put your articles, you can put any PDF that you're using. Then you have semantic

you're using. Then you have semantic scholar. So this is going to let you

scholar. So this is going to let you research with the database of about 200 million peer-reviewed research papers.

So this is a really strong database that you can have access to. Then you also have Google search which is allowing you to you know not only use the research paper but also allowing you to use other sources like public articles that might

be out there and everything. You have

the chat area. So this is where you would put in your prompt. You can put in anything you want. You can make your selections. So I'll show you all the

selections. So I'll show you all the selections as well. Then you also have all your chats saved on the side here.

So all of everything is connected here.

You're not going to lose any information. But what's really cool

information. But what's really cool about Logically is that you have access to not only the Gemini model like you would have with notebook LM. You

actually have access to bunch of AI models. So you have the Gemini Flash. So

models. So you have the Gemini Flash. So

if you want to do something really fast, you might choose this model, the mini model, the Haiku model. You also have advanced AI models for deep research. So

right now it only has Gemini Pro 2.5, but obviously GPT 5.2 is out, so you can select those. Claude Sonnet 4.5. Then

select those. Claude Sonnet 4.5. Then

you also have the reasoning AI models for more detailed answers over here. So

you have the option to select Gemini 3 pro preview claude opus 4.5 GPT5 pro. So

you can see you have advantage that you have access to multiple models and you're not limited to only the Gemini system. You can also play with the

system. You can also play with the settings here and add custom instructions. So you can you know tailor

instructions. So you can you know tailor your responses to a specific way you would want. You can also have the toggle

would want. You can also have the toggle for the show inline citations and data sources. So, as you can see, this is a

sources. So, as you can see, this is a really powerful setup, and we'll test this in more detail now. So, for the test, I want to learn about the history of the United States. And instead of putting in documents I would already

have, I'm going to ask it to use Semantic Scholar. So, use a database of

Semantic Scholar. So, use a database of about 200 million peer-reviewed research papers. So, I'm want to use that

papers. So, I'm want to use that information. And then I'm going to

information. And then I'm going to tailor, let's see, the custom instruction. Um, I don't really have a

instruction. Um, I don't really have a specific thing, but I'll just tell it to keep it simple and provide me takeaways that I can actually implement or understand. So, I'll put that.

understand. So, I'll put that.

And I will want it to show inline citations and data sources so I can fact check it. So, then I'm going to ask it

check it. So, then I'm going to ask it to use the Gemini Flash 2.5 model since it's a recommended one. So, I'll click on that and then let's see what it creates. So, as you can see, the layout

creates. So, as you can see, the layout kind of looks a bit different from Notebook LM where, you know, Notebook LM has more of a chat feature and then it has everything on the side. This is kind of more similar to how you would be

chatting to a large language model.

What's really cool is you have your citations referenced here. It is

following the key takeaway section idea like I mentioned in the custom uh chat feature. So I have my takeaways here

feature. So I have my takeaways here like diverse historical narratives, colonial roots, multicultural contributions, progress in social spheres, everything like that. It also

has the data sources at the bottom here.

Um we have all our you know the history of fire in southern United States citations were 160, references were 86 and I can you know open this up and actually take a look at this article. So

it has access all of these peer research, you know, Thai articles as my source and has taught me everything here. So it's not bad. You know, all

here. So it's not bad. You know, all this makes sense. This is a good start to learn something new like you would in Notebook LM. Another cool thing is that

Notebook LM. Another cool thing is that you have a little bit more customizability when you're actually searching. For example, if we look at

searching. For example, if we look at the semantic scholar, if we click on the settings icon here, you can actually turn off the semantic scholar auto mode.

And then you have the ability to customize these things. So the first thing is that you can only include open access papers. So you can se select that

access papers. So you can se select that and it would only include only open access papers. Then you have fields of

access papers. Then you have fields of study. You can select specific things.

study. You can select specific things.

Uh for us for example would have been history. If I wanted to, I could select

history. If I wanted to, I could select that versus all of these other options that we have. So if you're studying something specifically in a section, you can select that. Then you have publication types. You have review

publication types. You have review journals, journal articles, case report, clinical trial. So all of this access.

clinical trial. So all of this access.

You have news, study book, all of that.

Then you also have the date customization over here where you can specify the specific date after and before which is really cool. Something

like you would do in school or like when you're actually researching something.

You can also customize your Google search. So turn once again you can turn

search. So turn once again you can turn off your Google auto mode. Then time

range you can select like specific range. If you want something relevant,

range. If you want something relevant, something that has happened within like maybe a week or a day, you can select that. You can search your country. uh

that. You can search your country. uh

you can make it United States or any other country. You can also choose your

other country. You can also choose your language. If you're researching

language. If you're researching something for example that is not a English dominated place, maybe it's somewhere else in the world. Selecting

that language might give you better results. Then you also have limit search

results. Then you also have limit search to these domains. So you can specify domains. Let's say you are trying to do

domains. Let's say you are trying to do something in economics and you wanted to only use specific economic journals. You

can se put those in or you could exclude these domains as well. Let's say you don't trust a specific domain. It could

be a random blog or something like that you notice keeps coming up, you can exclude that as well. So you have a lot more customizability when it comes to your search function in uh Logically compared to notebook LM. So that's one

thing to keep in mind when you're trying to use Logically is that you have a little bit of more leeway. Now what's

really cool about Logically is that it allows you to write and site with AI in one area. So it's kind of like using

one area. So it's kind of like using Notion's capabilities combining it with notebook LM. That's how I would describe

notebook LM. That's how I would describe it. So let me show you guys what the

it. So let me show you guys what the right insight with AI is. So when you click on this, it'll take you to this area. So if you were to click this area,

area. So if you were to click this area, you will be opening the welcome to logically document writer section. So

this is where all researchers would write or anything like that. You can

write your notes, you can write your entire research papers and you can bring your AI chat output. So like you know the history of United States, we have access to that here. And you can add the

references and everything here.

You also have all your documents here.

So similar to how you would manage any chat features, you would also manage your chat documents over here.

And this is like the canvas. You can

think of it like that. And this is the area where you would write. This would

allow you to generate an outline with AI. You can chat with your AI on the

AI. You can chat with your AI on the side. Uh and you have the research

side. Uh and you have the research assistant. So this when you click on

assistant. So this when you click on this, it actually opens up logically's assistant and it works alongside you. So

while you're writing it's doing that and you can connect your documents to AI for tailored answers or you can use AI to improve specific areas of your writing you know by highlighting that text. So

it'll give you suggestions like that and all your references are on the side over here and you can manage your references from there. Uh you can add them to your writing site them in a

single click. So makes that really easy

single click. So makes that really easy which is something that's obviously a very tedious thing to do. But to show you guys exactly what we can do is that I have opened up my history of United States chat here. So I'm going to

generate an outline with AI and I'll tell it that I'm trying to create a paper on the history of the United States. You can see that when I said

States. You can see that when I said that obviously it's a very weak feature that I'm giving it and it's telling me that you can add specific structure cues like introduction, method, results,

clarify objective, analyze, evaluate, compare. Obviously, I'm not going to go

compare. Obviously, I'm not going to go into that much detail, but you can see how powerful Logically is and how good of a writing tool it is. So, if you're a research assistant or if you're a researcher, this is something that you

could leverage to your use. Now, press

next. Then you can suggest once again your model. Um, I'm going to choose a

your model. Um, I'm going to choose a Gemini Flash 2.5 model for this. AI

autosuggest is on site from library. So,

right now, you can see that error is because obviously I haven't uploaded any documents. So, it's going to use

documents. So, it's going to use external sources, which is fine. And you

can connect specific papers. Uh

obviously we're not going to select anything specific right now. And we'll

give it the feature to select from external sources as well. So we can generate the outline here. So now we have our outline. Basically it's saying that start off with the colonial

foundations and early settlement then transition into European exploration which makes sense. Then we can talk about the independence. Then go into expansion and civil war. So you can

start working with these. And as I'm in these sections, you can see that it's actually suggesting initial sentences.

So I can press accept. You can see that it has generated a sentence for us and it's actually a cited sentence from a source that I found. Then I can press accept again. This historical processes

accept again. This historical processes have left. So you can see it's

have left. So you can see it's continuing to suggest all all these things. Obviously, if I was making a

things. Obviously, if I was making a report, I wouldn't suggest accepting every single thing. Put in your own thoughts, put in your own ideas, and let the AI guide you to creating a really

strong paper. use the AI features as a

strong paper. use the AI features as a guide, not as a tool, as a replacement.

So, that is something amazing about Logically is that it becomes a really great place to write your papers. So, if

you're a student writing an essay for school or if you're somebody that's writing something even for creative purposes and you want inspiration from AI and you want access to really good

sources, you have all of that in Logically. I think obviously Notebook LM

Logically. I think obviously Notebook LM has its own pros and cons, but Logically is a great tool to have in your back pocket, too. If you enjoyed this video,

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