Why not ChatGPT or NotebookLM for your knowledge base?
ChatGPT and Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) serve one person asking their documents well. They do not make a knowledge base.
By the Ophiry team · Updated on October 23, 2026
ChatGPT and Gemini Notebook (the new name of NotebookLM) are excellent tools for one person who wants to ask questions of their own documents. They do not produce a knowledge base: they answer on the fly, without spotting that one document replaces another, without reviewed and published articles, and without separating what each reader is allowed to see. If you want a team or clients to find the right answer, the one that applies, you need those steps too.
At a glance
| ChatGPT (projects, company knowledge) | Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) | Ophiry | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | One person working with their files and tools | One person studying a set of sources | An organisation publishing a knowledge base to readers |
| Answers with sources | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Spotting that one document replaces another | ❌ No step for it: removing the old version is up to you | ❌ No step for it | ✅ The Map reads every document and shows the ones in disagreement; a person checks it |
| Written, reviewed and published articles | ❌ One answer per question | 🟡 Summaries and reports on demand, for the person who asks | ✅ An approved plan, articles with sources, publishing by editions |
| An isolated space per client | ❌ Not designed for it: every reader must be a member of your workspace | ❌ Not designed for it: a shared notebook, everyone who opens it sees the same | ✅ Each client has its own space: its readers see only what is shared with them, enforced by the system |
| One knowledge base in several languages | 🟡 Answers in your language, no translated knowledge base | 🟡 Answers in your language, no translated knowledge base | ✅ A knowledge base written in several languages, Arabic right to left included |
✅ yes · 🟡 partly · ❌ no
If your readers are your clients, each must see only their own documents. In Ophiry, each client has its own isolated space: its readers see only what is shared with them, and the assistant answers only from that content. The system enforces it, not an instruction given to the AI.
What ChatGPT and Gemini Notebook do well
ChatGPT lets you put files in a project and, in its Business and Enterprise plans, ask the company's tools (Google Drive, SharePoint, Slack…) through "company knowledge", with citations to the documents. To find something in your own work, it is very effective.
Gemini Notebook, called NotebookLM until 16 July 2026, relies only on the sources you add to a notebook, cites the passages it used, and can produce summaries, study guides or audio overviews. It is a very good tool for understanding a subject. A notebook takes a limited number of sources: 50 on the free plan, 300 on the Pro plan, according to Google's help.
If you work alone or in a small team, your documents do not contradict each other and nobody else needs to read the result, these tools are often enough.
What a knowledge base needs on top
Knowing which version applies
An assistant answering from your files looks for the passages closest to the question. If the 2022 handbook and the 2025 policy both cover leave, it may cite the old one, sources and all. The answer looks reliable, and it is wrong.
In Ophiry, the first step reads the whole corpus before anything is written. The Map shows the files in disagreement, the older version struck through beside the one that applies now. A person checks it; the articles are then written from the version that applies.
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Annual leaveSeniority increases annual leave entitlement
Corvella Employee Handbook 2025.pdfpreviously
Full-time employees receive 21 days of paid annual leave per calendar year.
Corvella Leave Policy.pdfnow
1 to 4 years: 21 · 5 to 9 years: 23 · 10 years or more: 25
An answer is not an article
A chatbot answer is written for one question, at the moment it is asked, and nobody has reviewed it. A reader cannot browse a knowledge base that does not exist yet, and two people asking the same question in different words may get two different answers.
In Ophiry, each subject has one article, and only one. You approve the plan, the AI writes, every sentence points to the passage it comes from, and nothing is visible until you click "Publish". When a source document changes, the citations show which articles to update.
Readers who do not all see the same thing
With ChatGPT, workspace members see what each connected tool's permissions allow them. With Gemini Notebook, everyone a notebook is shared with sees that notebook. Neither is designed to publish a knowledge base to external clients, where each client must see only its own content.
In Ophiry, your team manages the knowledge base, and readers, employees or clients, see only the content meant for them. The assistant searches only that content. The separation is enforced by the system, not left to an instruction given to the AI.
How many vacation days do I get after 5 years?
You receive 23 days of annual leave after five years of service (the 5–9 years entitlement is 23 days) [1].
- Full-time entitlement for the 5–9 year band: 23 days.
Sources
1. Leave
Answering only from articles you can access in this knowledge base.
When to choose which
- ChatGPT: you are looking for something in your own work, emails, files and tools.
- Gemini Notebook: you want to understand a subject from a set of sources, for yourself or a small group.
- Ophiry: you want a team or clients to find the answer that applies, in a knowledge base that is reviewed, published and kept up to date, each person seeing only what concerns them.
Ophiry is a software that turns an organisation's documents into a clear knowledge base, written by AI and checked by people, that everyone can ask questions to and get answers with their sources. Each reader sees only what is meant for them.