Google Replaces Gemini Gems With Skills, Moving Custom AI Helpers Into Chat

Gems were introduced in mid-2024, before the current agentic AI wave. They were designed as AI helpers with a personality and a unique goal, such as helping with cooking, coding or language learning. Each Gem had its own chat window and instructions, essentially turning it into a mini-app. But the Android Authority report says that model did not work. Gems were isolated silos: they could help with repeating tasks, but users had to find and open the Gem conversation first. The report's author said that when Gems launched, they tried them and quickly forgot they existed. Gems are now joining Google's graveyard of abandoned products, and Skills is taking their place.

The report says the way consumers use AI chatbots has changed. With a long context window, it makes sense to continue working on multiple aspects of a project in the same chat window. What users want, according to the report, is to use pre-configured Gems and customized prompts anywhere. That is what Skills does. Once configured, a skill can be called up from any chat and invoked using data from the current chat. Users are not limited to one skill or one chat. They can stack skills and chain them into a step-by-step automation system.

Android Authority offers the example of researching a specific module for work or college in a chat. One skill can start the research based on parameters the user has already narrowed down. Another skill can take that information, format it into an easy-to-read digest and write it in the user's own style, based on data from their Google account activity. Yet another skill can send the digest to team members through Gmail or create a Google Doc from it. The report says this can continue, limited only by the user's requirements and workflows.

The report's author said they do not use AI for writing, but do use it for brainstorming ideas, creating unique angles and handling menial tasks such as generating keywords and SEO descriptions. Previously, the author fed preferences into Gemini's Memory file. Now, instead of relying on Gemini's recall, the author can give specific instructions for each task.

Creating a skill is done by asking Gemini, according to the report. There is a dedicated Skills page in Settings where users can see recommended skills, skills they have created and their old Gems. Skills is built into the chat interface. A user can open a chat, type "create a skill for me that does," and continue describing the task, including through voice typing. After pressing Enter, Gemini creates a new skill with detailed instructions that go beyond the original description. In one example, the author asked Gemini to create a skill for proofreading text. Gemini created a skill called "draft-proofreader," and the name can be changed. The user then pastes in the draft text, uses the "/" command to run the draft and waits for results. The report adds that entering the forward slash command in the text box shows a list of all Skills. For more precise control, users can create a skill manually by going to Settings, then Skills, then Create Manually. There, they can give the skill a name with no spaces and hyphens only, add a description and add detailed instructions.

The report says that because Gemini Skills are simple to make, users should try them. Which skills are useful depends heavily on the user's workflow. For the author, they include online research, editing and writing. For others, they might involve science, technology, arts or plain idea generation. If a user can take a repeated action based on a similar dataset or question, the report suggests turning it into a skill. The report begins a list of five suggested Skills with meeting-prep, pointing to users of Gmail, Google Docs and Meet.