The dates

Google has told Gemini users it is retiring Gems, the custom versions of Gemini it introduced in 2024, and replacing them with a feature called Skills. The notice went up in the Gems manager rather than in a blog post.

The option to create or edit a Gem goes away on 13 October. Automatic migration of existing Gems to Skills begins on 17 November. Google says users need do nothing; the conversion happens for them, and Gems keep working until they are converted.

What changes in the product

Gems live behind a side panel: pick one, and you are in a separate conversation configured by that Gem. Skills work the other way round. They sit inside the main chat window and are invoked by typing a forward slash in the prompt box, and more than one can be used in the same conversation.

A phone resting on a notebook beside a laptop and a cup of coffee on a wooden table
Skills are invoked with a forward slash inside the main chat window. Stock photograph. Sora Shimazaki · pexels · Pexels License

That is a real improvement for anyone who built several Gems and grew tired of switching between them, and it matches how the same idea works in the coding tools this pattern came from. It also makes the feature cheaper to reason about: a Skill is an instruction set you pull into the conversation you are already having, rather than a place you have to go.

The part Google has not explained

Gems are available to everyone, including free accounts. Skills, as things stand, are limited to subscribers on Google AI Pro or Ultra with access to the Gemini Spark tab. Google’s migration banner carries a “Learn more” link, and that link currently points at a support page that does not exist.

A whiteboard wall calendar with days crossed off and notes written in marker
Creating Gems stops on 13 October; migration begins on 17 November. Stock photograph. K · pexels · Pexels License

So the notice tells a free user that their Gems will be migrated, without saying whether they will be able to use what those Gems become. Until the support page appears, the plain reading of the announcement is that a feature available on the free tier is being replaced by one that is not.

What to watch

The support page is the thing to watch, and the date to watch it by is 13 October, when creating new Gems stops. If Google intends to open Skills to free accounts, that is a straightforward thing to say and there is no obvious reason to leave it unsaid. If it does not, then this is a paywall moving, announced as a migration — and it lands in the same month Google has been testing purchases inside Gemini in India and pushing the assistant further into Pixel.