Google is killing off Gemini’s Gems in favor of ‘skills’
As all-in-one AI agents like Meta's Muse and Instinct take off, Google is opting to end a feature which built task-specific agents.
Google has announced plans to discontinue the Gemini feature known as "Gems," which allowed users to create customized AI assistants for specific tasks. The shutdown of Gems is part of a broader shift by Google towards using "skills" across different AI tasks. Users who invested time in creating Gems will not lose their work, as they will be automatically migrated to the new skills format.
Google plans to make this transition seamless, with no action required from users. Gems, introduced in 2024, aimed to enable users to teach their AI to perform specific tasks without repeating instructions. Pre-made Gems included a learning coach, a brainstorming assistant, a career guide, a coding partner, and an editor. Users could also create their own Gems for personalized needs, such as a running coach, nutritionist, or vacation planner.
These custom assistants could be shared with others, which Google hoped would boost the popularity of its Gemini AI app. However, the shutdown of Gems highlights Google's recurring struggle to manage its AI feature introductions effectively. The company's strategy of giving each new AI feature its own name, icon, and prominent placement in the app's navigation has often led to confusion and the merging of features over time.
Despite the transition to skills, Google notes that the user interface for accessing these skills will require users to input a forward slash "/" in a task thread, an approach that may not be as user-friendly as typing in text to a chatbot. The Gem's shutdown was first reported by 9to5Google.
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