Google is killing off Gemini’s Gems in favor of ‘skills’
Google will retire Gemini Gems on November 17, 2026, automatically migrating them to reusable skills.
Google is shutting down Gemini's Gems, custom task-specific assistants launched in 2024, and converting them into skills. A notice in the Gemini app says Gems become skills on November 17, 2026, with automatic migration, and existing Gems remain usable until then. Users invoke a skill by typing a forward slash in a task thread. Pre-made Gems included a learning coach, brainstorming assistant, career guide, coding partner, and editor, and custom Gems could be shared. The wind-down was first reported by 9to5Google.
- Gems shut down and become skills on November 17, 2026.
- Existing Gems migrate automatically and stay usable until then.
- Skills are chosen by typing a slash in a thread.
- Gems launched in 2024 as reusable custom assistants.
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As all-in-one AI agents like Meta’s Muse and Instinct take off, Google announced it’s shutting down the Gemini feature known as “Gems,” which had allowed users to build custom AI assistants for specific tasks. However, the work users invested in creating the Gems won’t be destroyed. Gems will be automatically migrated to “skills” that can be used across different AI tasks.
Details about the change are being shared in the Gemini app, where a message warns users that Gems will become skills starting on November 17, 2026. The company said it will migrate the Gems to the new format, so users won’t have to do anything to make the transition. The Gems themselves will remain usable until then.
Launched in 2024, Gems were meant to help users teach their AI to perform certain tasks without having to repeat the instructions. For instance, some of Google’s pre-made Gems had included a learning coach, a brainstorming assistant, a career guide, a coding partner, and an editor. Users could also make Gems for their own needs, like a running coach, nutritionist, or vacation planner. These custom assistants could also be shared with others, which Google had hoped would help make its Gemini AI app more popular.
The news of Gems’ shutdown is another example of why Google shouldn’t be so quick to give every new AI feature its own brand name, icon, and prominent placement in its app’s navigation — especially if it’s going to shuffle things around over time, merging one feature into another. (To be clear, this has been a failing point of Google’s strategy long before the AI era. At one point, for instance, the company was operating multiple different messaging and communication apps at the same time.)
Yet, even as skills, the former Gems still aren’t as consumer-friendly as just typing in text to a chatbot like Meta’s Muse. Instead, Google notes you’ll have to enter a forward slash “/” in a task thread to select the skill you want to use — a user interface that engineers, not regular folks, tend to prefer.
Gems’ wind-down was first reported over the weekend by 9to5Google.
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