Google has a habit of naming things, giving them icons, putting them in navigation menus, and then quietly folding them into something else. Gems is the latest casualty. According to TechCrunch, Google is shutting down Gems, the Gemini feature that let users build custom AI assistants for specific tasks, and replacing them with something called ‘skills.’ The switch happens on November 17, 2026. Users don’t have to do anything. Google will migrate everything automatically.
Gems launched in 2024 as a way to let users configure Gemini for specific, repeatable tasks without retyping instructions every session. Google offered pre-built options like a learning coach, a coding partner, a brainstorming assistant, a career guide, and an editor. Users could also build their own, think running coaches, nutritionists, vacation planners, and share them with others. That sharing feature was meant to drive adoption of the Gemini app more broadly. It’s not clear how well it worked.
The transition to skills isn’t a total reset. The work users put into building Gems carries over, so there’s no data loss here. But the rebranding matters because it signals how Google thinks about these features at a product level. Skills are designed to work across different task types inside Gemini rather than sitting as standalone assistants. That’s a more modular approach, and on paper it makes sense. But the execution detail is telling: to use a skill, you type a forward slash “/” in a thread and select from a list. That’s a developer-friendly shortcut, not something a general consumer is going to find intuitive.
Compare that to how Meta’s Muse handles similar functionality. Users just type. There’s no syntax to learn, no menu to navigate. Google’s skill interface feels like a product decision made by people who use command-line tools, not by people trying to compete for mainstream AI app users.
The broader context here is worth stating plainly. AI agents and customizable assistants are becoming a real battleground. Meta has Muse and Instinct. OpenAI has GPTs. Anthropic is pushing into agentic workflows. Every major player is trying to make their AI feel personal and task-specific. Google’s answer to that is skills, which could be a solid building block, but only if the interface around it improves.
Still, the pattern Google keeps repeating is the more corrosive problem. This is a company that once ran several competing messaging apps simultaneously. Giving every AI feature its own brand, its own placement, and then merging or retiring it later erodes user trust. People who invested time building Gems now have to relearn how to access that same functionality under a new name with a different interaction model.
Skills may end up being better than Gems. But Google has to stop making users feel like the products they adopt today are experiments that might not be around tomorrow.
