• Gemini Gems are being phased out as Google replaces them with more flexible, reusable Skills.
• Skills roll out October 5 in Workspace and October 13 in the Gemini app, with Gems starting their exit in November.
• Multiple Skills can work together, letting Gemini combine specialized instructions for more complex tasks.

Google is swapping out Gemini's customizable Gems for a more flexible system called Skills, and the transition is now getting a firm timeline. Skills will begin rolling out to Google Workspace on October 5, followed by the Gemini app on October 13, with Gems beginning their gradual exit in November.

In case you didn’t know, Gems were basically customized versions of Gemini built to follow a specific set of instructions. Skills take that further and make those instructions reusable and modular building blocks.

Google said in a blog post that Skills can capture a company’s brand voice, templates, processes, and other reference material in a blog post and then be reused whenever a similar task arises.

The biggest upgrade is that skills can now be stacked. Instead of just one custom assistant, you might have a Skill for writing a weekly newsletter and another Skill to ensure you adhere to your brand guidelines. Gemini also has the ability to automatically recognize when a Skill applies to a prompt, so you don’t need to manually select it every time.

Skills are also coming to non-work accounts on Google. When the Gemini app rollout begins, Skills will be available to users of personal Google accounts and Google Workspace customers. They're based on an open SKILL.md format using Markdown, which Google says makes Skills portable across compatible platforms.

The catch is that skills developed in Gemini and Workspace will not automatically sync between them. If you want it in both places, you will need to create the same Skill separately.

The transition happens in stages. Gems will be transferred into Gemini’s Settings on November 17, where they’ll be usable for a time. Business and enterprise accounts will not lose Gems before March 1, 2027, and education accounts will not lose Gems before June 1. Remaining Gems will eventually be converted to draft Skills.

Jay Bonggolto always keeps a nose for news. He has been writing about consumer tech for as long as he can remember, and he has used a variety of Android phones since falling in love with Jelly Bean. Send him a direct message via X or LinkedIn.