Google is replacing Gems with Skills, but the upgrade comes with a rather expensive catch

One Google feature dies, a paywalled one replaces it.

By Shikhar Mehrotra Published September 28, 2026

A screenshot from Google I/O with a slide on the screen about Gems. — Google

Google calls this an upgrade, but for anyone still on a free account, it may just be a downgrade with a nicer name.

Google confirmed on September 27, 2026, that Gems are being sunset for Skills. The company will pull the plug on Gems in November. The fine print, however, raises a real question about who actually gets access.

What actually happens to your Gems?

For those catching up, Gems arrived as Gemini’s answer to custom GPTs in August 2024. They let you save a set of instructions as a reusable assistant without rewriting them every time. While Skills build on that very idea, they lean into Gemini being proactive, recognizing what a task needs rather than waiting to be told.

Recommended Videos

Starting November 17, Google will automatically convert every Gem into a Skill. Your existing Gems will keep working right up until then.

The good thing here is that Skills behave more like shortcuts than Gems ever did: type a slash, then an @, and Gemini either pulls the right one by itself or lets you stack a few together in a single chat.

Who’s actually allowed to use skills?

Here’s the catch, though, and it stings. Gems have always been free for anyone with a Google account. However, Skills now require a Google AI Pro ($19.99 per month) or Ultra subscription ($99.99 per month), plus access to Gemini Spark.

You also need to be over 18, on a personal account rather than a school or work account, and outside the EU, UK, Switzerland, or Nigeria. Skills aren’t available in these regions yet.

Google hasn’t said whether the subscription gate is permanent or temporary. It also didn’t say how free users with a dozen Gems will survive once Skills roll out to paid customers only.

Shikhar Mehrotra

News Writer

For more than five years, Shikhar has consistently simplified developments in the field of consumer tech and presented them…

Topics

Computing

AI agents are acting like rogues and causing a huge headache for US banks

US banks block AI agents over fears they could make unauthorised financial moves

Banking

US banks are facing a new kind of digital headache: artificial intelligence agents attempting to access customer accounts and perform actions that may go beyond what users intended. As AI tools become more capable of navigating websites and carrying out tasks independently, financial institutions are scrambling to prevent them from crossing security boundaries.

According to a report published by Axios on October 22, major US banks have detected third-party AI agents operating inside customer accounts without authorisation. Some agents reportedly appeared to attempt actions independently of user instructions. The banks involved have not publicly detailed every incident, and there is no evidence that the reported activity resulted in widespread theft of customer funds.

Computing

Canva enters the AI image generation race with Craft, and it’s thinking beyond pretty pictures

The new model plans layouts before generating images, with precise editing and support for 30 aspect ratios.

Canva Craft Featured Image

AI can generate all kinds of pretty pictures, but getting it to spell a headline correctly or keep a poster's layout intact can be another story. Canva wants to fix that with Canva Craft, its first in-house image generation model. Rather than focusing primarily on photographs, Craft is designed around the posters, presentations, social media graphics, and other visual content people actually create. The goal is simple: spend less time fixing AI's mistakes and more time making something useful.

Canva Craft plans before it generates

Computing

Mori might be the cutest AI companion robot yet, and it reacts to you like a pet

The Pokémon-like companion can blink, dance, act shy, and respond to what is happening around it.

OKA Mori The Nature Companion AI Home Robot

With AI progressing so fast, it's only a matter of time before we start getting AI companions like the ones we used to see in movies like R2-D2, Wall-E, or Baymax. Now, Singapore-based OKA Technology has unveiled Mori, a cute little AI companion that looks less like a conventional home robot and more like someone turned the Pokémon Foongus into a table lamp.

Mori isn't meant to clean your house or control your smart home, but to serve as what OKA calls a "Nature Companion." It uses subtle movements, warm lighting, nature-inspired sounds, and small reactions to make its presence around the house feel calming rather than distracting. Mori can sit quietly while you read, sway along to music, welcome you when you enter a room, or encourage you to slow down for a moment without requiring a screen or a conversation.