Google brings reusable skills to Gemini and plans to retire Gems
By Automate Basics, written with AI from Google's original
Google says skills, reusable prompts that guide Gemini, will roll out in the Gemini app and Google Workspace. They are intended to replace Gems for tailoring instructions to recurring tasks, with different transition dates for business and education users.
What changed with Gemini skills
Google says skills are reusable prompts that guide Gemini through a task. The company is bringing them to both the Gemini app and Google Workspace as the eventual replacement for Gems, its existing way to tailor instructions for specific tasks.
Skills begin rolling out in Workspace on October 5, 2026, and in the Gemini app on October 13, 2026. Google expects both rollouts to finish by mid-November. Gems are not disappearing when skills arrive. From November 17, 2026, Gems move to the Gemini app’s Settings panel, where users can still create, edit and use them. The longer-term change matters to teams that have built repeatable work around Gems, especially those using the Ask a Gem step in Workspace Studio flows.
Who can use Gemini skills?
Google lists skills as available to all Google Workspace customers and people with personal Google accounts. The announcement names Business Starter, Standard and Plus, Enterprise Starter, Standard and Plus, Google AI Pro for Education, and AI Expanded Access among the covered plans and add-ons. It does not give a separate price for skills.
Availability will depend on the rollout. Google says Rapid Release Workspace domains start receiving skills on October 5, 2026, with completion expected by October 12. Scheduled Release domains start on October 19, with completion expected by mid-November. The Gemini app rollout starts on October 13 for Rapid and Scheduled Release domains and is expected to finish by mid-November. A team may therefore see skills in one place before the other.
How do I try skills at work?
A useful first test is a task for which your team already repeats the same instructions to Gemini. Once skills are available to you, create one for that task and check whether its output follows the intended instructions. Review the result as you would any other AI output before using it at work. Google describes skills as reusable prompts, but the announcement does not provide a creation procedure, so there is no specific menu path to follow here.
Teams that use Gems should also identify which ones support recurring work. Google encourages users to begin creating skills and to check the transition dates that apply to their Workspace licenses. If a Workspace Studio flow uses the Ask a Gem step, include that flow in the review rather than assuming a new skill will keep it running.
When will Gems stop working?
Google says the end of Gems depends on the type of user. For business and enterprise users, Gems will stop being available to create, edit or use no sooner than March 1, 2027. For education users, that change will happen no sooner than June 1, 2027. On the applicable date, remaining Gems in the Gemini app will be converted into draft skills, and Workspace Studio flows using Ask a Gem will stop working.
For education users, Gems will also be removed from Google Classroom and supported learning management systems through Gemini LTI. Google recommends Gemini Notebook, which it says is currently available, and Guided Learning, which it says is coming to Classroom, for personalized student support. The announcement gives earliest possible retirement dates, not firm dates when every affected Gem or flow will stop.
Frequently asked questions
Will my existing Gemini Gems keep working when skills arrive?
Yes. Google says Gems remain usable after the skills rollout begins. From November 17, 2026, users can still create, edit and use Gems from the Gemini app’s Settings panel. Later retirement dates differ for business and enterprise users and for education users.
What happens to Gems in Workspace Studio flows?
Google says flows with the Ask a Gem step will stop working when Gems are retired for the relevant users. That will happen no sooner than March 1, 2027, for business and enterprise users, or June 1, 2027, for education users.
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Written with AI from Google's original and published after automatic checks: every figure here appears in the original, and no sentence is copied from it. The picture is AI-generated. The original is the authority.
Source: Introducing skills in the Gemini app and Workspace, plus what’s next for Gems, Google, 30 Sept 2026.