ElevenLabs launched GenFM in late 2024 as a direct competitor to Google's NotebookLM Audio Overview. The premise is the same: upload your content, and AI generates a multi-speaker podcast episode where two hosts discuss your material. The difference is voice quality. ElevenLabs built its reputation on the most natural-sounding text-to-speech in the industry, and GenFM inherits that advantage. The hosts sound less like AI reading a script and more like two people having an actual conversation about your course topic. The tool launched as part of ElevenLabs' push into generative audio content.
What you’ll walk away with:
- A multi-speaker podcast episode from your course materials
- A marketing preview that showcases your expertise
- Supplementary audio content for auditory learners
Why ElevenLabs GenFM
If you have already tried NotebookLM's Audio Overview, you know the format works. Two AI hosts discussing your material creates something more engaging than a summary and more accessible than a lecture. GenFM builds on that format with three specific advantages.
First, voice quality. ElevenLabs' neural voice models produce audio with more natural intonation, better breath pacing, and fewer of the tonal flat spots that occasionally make NotebookLM hosts sound like they are reading. The difference is most noticeable in longer passages and when hosts transition between ideas — GenFM handles these moments more smoothly.
Second, voice selection. NotebookLM gives you its two default hosts. GenFM lets you choose from ElevenLabs' voice library, which means you can select voices that match your audience's expectations — a warm, measured tone for a wellness course, a more energetic style for a business topic, or specific accents for an international audience.
Third, customization. You have more control over the conversation style and how deeply the hosts explore different parts of your content. This does not mean full scripting — the AI still decides the flow — but you can steer it more precisely than NotebookLM allows.
Step by step: Creating a podcast with GenFM
Prepare your course content
Start by selecting what you want the podcast to cover. A single module or lesson works better than an entire course — the same principle that applies to NotebookLM. Pull together your lesson notes, key concepts, and any supporting material. If your content exists as slides, export the speaker notes into a text document. If it is a video lesson, use the transcript. GenFM works best when it has well-organized text with clear structure: headings, key points, and enough context for the AI to build a real conversation.
Upload to GenFM
Go to elevenlabs.io, sign in, and navigate to GenFM. Upload your prepared content. You can paste text directly or upload documents. The interface is straightforward — add your source material and the tool shows you what it will work with.
Configure speakers and style
This is where GenFM differs most from NotebookLM. Choose the voices for your hosts from the ElevenLabs library. You can preview how each voice sounds before committing. Consider your audience: if you teach yoga instructors, a calm and grounded pair of voices fits better than high-energy speakers. If your course covers business strategy, a more direct, conversational tone might work. You can also provide guidance on the conversation style — whether you want the hosts to go deep on specific topics, keep things introductory, or focus on practical takeaways.
Generate the podcast
Click generate and wait. Generation takes a few minutes depending on the length and complexity of your source material. The result is a complete audio file with two speakers discussing your content, transitioning between topics, and occasionally summarizing key points for the listener.
Review and edit
Listen to the entire episode before sharing it. Check for accuracy — are the hosts representing your ideas correctly? Are they spending time on the parts that matter most to your students? If a section misrepresents a concept or spends too long on a minor point, note it. You can regenerate with adjusted source material or a different prompt to steer the conversation. For post-production editing — trimming intros, cutting a weak section, adding your own spoken intro — a tool like Descript makes the process fast.
Export and distribute
Download the final audio file. From here, you have options. Upload it directly to your course as a supplementary resource alongside the written lesson. Post it as a free preview on your course landing page. Share clips on social media. If you are building a podcast feed to market your course, GenFM can produce episodes consistently without requiring you to record, edit, and master audio yourself.
The human layer
GenFM creates a discussion about your content. It does not replicate your teaching. This distinction matters more than it might seem. When you teach a lesson, you make dozens of small decisions: which example to use, when to slow down, what to repeat, which tangent is worth exploring and which is not. Those decisions reflect your expertise and your understanding of your students. The AI hosts do not have that context. They process your uploaded material and generate a plausible conversation, but they cannot know that step three is where students always get stuck, or that the analogy in paragraph four is the one that makes the concept click.
This makes GenFM best suited for two roles: marketing and supplementary learning. As a marketing tool, it gives prospective students a way to experience your expertise before enrolling. They listen to a discussion of your material and think, "I want to learn more about this." As a supplementary resource, it gives enrolled students another path into the material — an audio format they can absorb during a commute, a walk, or a break from screen time. In neither role does it replace the actual course experience you design.
Course creator tips
Use it as a marketing preview
Generate a GenFM episode from the introduction or first module of your course and publish it as a free sample. Prospective students get to hear your subject matter discussed in depth without you spending hours producing a podcast from scratch. If the conversation is compelling, it functions as a low-pressure sales tool — people who listen to ten minutes of discussion about your topic are already self-selecting as potential students.
Turn each module summary into an episode
Write a one-page summary of each module's key ideas and generate an episode from each. The result is a podcast season that mirrors your course structure. Students can listen to the relevant episode before or after working through the module itself. This works especially well for courses where the material builds — listening to a summary of Module 2 before starting Module 3 helps students retain the foundation they need.
Pair with the written version for multimodal learning
Research on multimedia learning consistently shows that presenting information through multiple channels improves retention. Offering both a written lesson and an audio discussion of the same material gives students two ways to engage with the same ideas. The written version provides structure and detail. The audio version provides a conversational framing that can make abstract concepts feel more concrete. Students who engage with both tend to retain more than those who use only one format.
What it gets wrong
GenFM can misemphasize topics. The AI decides how much time to spend on each part of your content, and its priorities will not always match yours. A concept you consider foundational might get thirty seconds while a supporting detail gets two minutes. You can influence this by being selective about what you upload, but you cannot control it precisely.
The voices, despite being the best AI speech available, still lack genuine enthusiasm. They sound natural in the technical sense — good pacing, realistic intonation — but they do not convey the excitement that a real person feels when discussing something they care about. For a course on a topic you are passionate about, this gap can be noticeable. Your students know what genuine interest sounds like.
GenFM does not capture your unique perspective. It can discuss the facts and frameworks in your material, but it cannot reproduce the specific lens through which you teach. Your years of experience, your stories from working with students, your opinions about what matters most in your field — these do not survive the translation into an AI-generated conversation. The hosts discuss your content competently, but they do not teach it the way you would.
Complex topics can get oversimplified. The conversational format naturally pushes toward accessibility, which is usually a strength. But for advanced material — nuanced therapy techniques, detailed training protocols, sophisticated creative processes — the simplification can strip away the precision that makes your teaching valuable.
Frequently asked questions
Is ElevenLabs GenFM free to use?
GenFM is available on ElevenLabs' free tier with limited usage. The free plan gives you a small number of generations per month, enough to test the workflow. For regular use — generating podcast episodes for each module of a course, for example — you will need a paid plan starting at $5 per month.
How is GenFM different from NotebookLM Audio Overview?
Both tools generate multi-speaker audio discussions from uploaded content. NotebookLM is free, produced by Google, and grounds its conversation strictly in your sources. GenFM offers higher voice quality, more voice options, and greater control over speaker style and tone. If voice quality and customization matter to you, GenFM is worth the cost. If free and simple is the priority, NotebookLM does the job.
Can I use GenFM podcasts as core course content?
You can, but it works better as supplementary or marketing material. The AI generates a discussion about your content, not a faithful reproduction of your teaching. It may shift emphasis, skip nuances, or simplify points that need depth. Use it to give students an alternative format for review, or to create preview episodes that attract new enrollments. You can upload the audio as a supplementary resource in Ruzuku lessons, alongside your written content and video.
Where the podcast leads
Your generated episode gives prospective students a taste of your expertise. When they want the full experience, they need a course that is easy to find and easy to join. On Ruzuku, you can upload the podcast episode as a supplementary resource right alongside your video lessons, written materials, and discussion spaces — everything in one place, with built-in audio and video hosting so there is no extra platform to manage.
GenFM creates the on-ramp. Your course is the destination. Making the path between them simple is what turns listeners into students.
Related guides
- How to Create a Course Podcast Using NotebookLM's Audio Overview — the free alternative from Google with a simpler workflow
- How to Create Course Voiceovers Using ElevenLabs — use ElevenLabs for slide narration instead of podcast generation
- How to Edit Course Videos Using Descript's AI Features — edit and polish your audio by editing text
- How to Create Your First Online Course — the complete guide from idea to launch
- Ruzuku Course Builder — host audio, video, and course materials in one place