What is Gemini Notebook? It’s a free Google tool, formerly called NotebookLM, that works like a research assistant who has read only what you hand over. You give it documents, by uploading a file or pasting a web link, and it answers using only those sources, with numbered references back to the exact passage so you can check it yourself. Unlike a general chatbot, it isn’t drawing on everything it learned from the internet, so it’s less likely to make things up.

In this exercise you’ll learn how to give an AI tool a long document, ask it plain-English questions, and check its answers against the pages it points to. It’s timely: Medicare Open Enrollment runs October 15 to December 7.

Time: 10–15 minutes. Tool: Gemini Notebook, free with a Google account (such as a Gmail account). Document: the official Medicare & You 2027 handbook, a public 128-page PDF from Medicare.gov that you add by its web link, with nothing to download.

  1. Go to notebook.google.com and sign in.
  2. Create a new notebook.
  3. In the Add sources window, choose Websites.
  4. Paste in this link, and click Insert: https://www.medicare.gov/publications/10050-medicare-and-you.pdf. It may take a minute to load the 128 pages.
  5. Type the first prompt below into the chat box and press Enter.
  6. Click the numbered references in the answer to see the passage it used, and check them.

First prompt:

When is Medicare Open Enrollment this year, and when does any new coverage I choose begin?

Follow-up prompt:

What is the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, and what can't I do during it?

You’ll know it worked if the first answer gives October 15 to December 7, 2026, with new coverage beginning January 1, 2027, and the references take you to the handbook’s key dates page. The follow-up should describe the January 1 to March 31 period for people in a Medicare Advantage Plan.

If Gemini Notebook isn’t working for you, download the PDF from the link above and upload it to ChatGPT or Google Gemini, then use the same prompts.

The takeaway: Asking questions about a document you supply is a safer, more checkable way to use AI, but it’s a reading aid, not a plan adviser. Confirm anything that affects your coverage at Medicare.gov or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). Google says it doesn’t use what you add to train its AI. If you later try a personal document, skip the thumbs-up and thumbs-down buttons, which can send that exchange to Google reviewers, and don’t share the notebook.