Here’s how I use Gemini Gems for work and play

I’ve been using Gemini for a while now, and one of the best features it has to offer is Gems. I have a few of them set up and use them daily to get stuff done faster or to ease my mind when life gets out of control.

Gems are still a paid feature, remaining part of Gemini Advanced. That’s one reason many people aren’t familiar with them and how they can be used. So, I want to walk you through what Gemini Gems are and how I use them to my advantage. Let’s dive in.

Think of Gems like your army of AI experts in specific fields. For example, you can create a Gem designed to help you lose weight. You can customize the tone of its responses, depending on whether you want it to push you for extra motivation or show compassion when you hit an obstacle.

You can feed it all the details about your goals and progress, so the chatbot always knows where you are, what you want to achieve, and where you’re at on your journey. That means you never have to repeat yourself, and all your conversations with the Gem are saved in one chat.

Gems are useful for all sorts of things. Creating one is simple; you must give it enough detailed information about what you expect from it. There are also a few pre-made Gems available, including a Learning coach, Brainstormer, Career guide, and Coding partner. All these can be customized further with any specific goals you have.

As already mentioned, Gems are a paid feature available only to Gemini Advanced users. Google sometimes brings paid features to its free users, so there’s a chance Gems will eventually be available to everyone with a Google account, although nothing has been confirmed yet.

I believe in the “less is more” approach, so I only have four Gems set up for now. Some I use for work, some for personal goals, and some for fun.

The first Gem I created is called “AA brainstorming.” It helps me with all my work-related tasks. I see it as my work colleague, helping me proofread my articles, suggest improvements, and brainstorm title ideas. I also use it for researching tech-related topics or products, as I find the process better and faster than using Google search.

This is the Gem I use most, as I usually spend at least a third of each day working and staring at a computer screen. It’s not perfect, as some titles it suggests are subpar, and it doesn’t even catch every typo I make. But it’s still good enough for my use case and helps me get stuff done faster.

The second Gem is just for fun. With work and personal projects piling up and stressing me out, I like to distract my brain with silly jokes, quizzes, and riddles. That’s where the “Cheer up” Gem comes in, designed to respond with a joke or quiz whenever I reach out to it.

It’s not something I use daily or for long periods, but getting my mind off stressful things and onto a stupid joke brings a sense of relief, even if it’s short-lived. The jokes can be basic, as you can see below, but they still make me chuckle.

Next is my Health and Fitness Gem. I use this quite a bit to help me develop a fitness plan that mainly involves bodyweight exercises, light weightlifting, and a cardio routine consisting of running and cycling. I frequently prompt it to switch up my routine with new exercises since I quickly get bored doing the same ones repeatedly.

What I like about this process is that the Gem already knows what types of exercises I enjoy and the equipment I have, so it never suggests something that doesn’t make sense for me. It works like a charm.

And now for my last Gem. I use this one for my diet. I’ve uploaded a few of my favorite recipes to it, so I can ask it for the instructions when needed. My memory isn’t the best, so it’s good to double-check these things. I also use it to help me develop a meal plan with plenty of protein and suggest recipes that fall within my dietary restrictions. I don’t eat meat, for example, and am really into Italian, Indian, and Mexican cuisines. Gemini remembers my preferences, so it provides recipes that are in sync with them.

It depends. I’m a Gemini Advanced user, and while the monthly subscription is steep, I get a lot of value from the chatbot, so I’m willing to pay. I get access to the latest models, fewer restrictions with the Imagen 3 image generator, better and more detailed responses, and access to NotebookLM Plus. Not to mention 2TB of cloud storage, which comes in handy.

However, your mileage may vary. I’ll remain a Gemini Advanced subscriber for all the benefits, although I wouldn’t pay just for the Gems. At least not at $20 per month. So if you’re thinking of signing up, you have to look at the whole picture to see how much value you’ll get overall.

I still think average users will be happy with a free Gemini account. But if you’re a more demanding user like me who uses Gemini daily for work and personal tasks, a subscription may be worth it.

Once you get used to all the extra features like Gems, going back to a free plan with just the basics is hard. A step down is rarely fun. However, the good news is that Google offers a one-month free trial so that you can test out Gems and the other features offered by Gemini Advanced to see how much value you’ll get.