Google swaps Gems for Skills in Gemini, Anthropic-based format

Google's move follows a broader pattern in which AI chat assistants are moving away from one-off custom bots toward a more standardized, agent-ready prompt format. Gems were Google's equivalent of OpenAI's Custom GPTs, and OpenAI is also sunsetting that product. The Skills format originated with Anthropic and is available as an open standard, meaning Google is adopting a rival's specification rather than pushing its own. That alignment could make it easier for users to move instructions between assistants, though the article does not say whether cross-platform portability is part of the plan.

The rollout is staggered. Personal accounts lose Gems in November, enterprise and nonprofit Workspace customers in March 2027, and education customers in June 2027. Existing Gems convert automatically, which lowers the risk of users losing their setups. But the new capabilities that would make Skills more useful, such as sharing, Google Drive files, and Gemini Notebook integration, are promised for the coming weeks, with the enterprise, education, and nonprofit Workspace launch still to follow. November also ends Opal, Google's AI mini-app experiment from summer 2025.

The stakes hinge on execution. If the promised integrations arrive on schedule and the automatic conversion works as described, Workspace administrators may face little disruption. If the timeline slips, the gap between personal accounts losing Gems in November and enterprise customers keeping them until 2027 could create confusion for organizations that span both. Whether Skills becomes a durable standard or just another format Google cycles through is likely to depend on how quickly the remaining features ship.