Your Custom AI Assistant Just Moved Into Google Docs
Why settle for one AI assistant when you can have a whole team of specialists?
I've been testing Google's new Gems feature in Gemini over the past few days, and it's starting to influence how I think about AI assistance in my daily workflow. This isn't just another AI feature to add to the pile; it's a genuinely different approach to making AI work for your specific needs.
For those who haven't encountered Gems yet, let me explain what we're dealing with here. Gems are essentially custom AI experts (really light-weight agents) that you can create within Gemini. Think of them as specialized versions of the AI assistant, each one trained and configured for specific tasks or knowledge areas. You might have used the pre-made Gems like "Writing editor" or "Coding partner," but the real power comes from creating your own.
Here's the kicker: Google just integrated these Gems directly into the side panel of Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, and Gmail. No more switching to a separate Gemini tab. Your custom AI experts now live right where you work, accessible with a single click on that sparkle icon in the top right corner. They can access your files, understand your context, and retain all the specialized knowledge you've provided, all without leaving your document.
Let me paint you a picture. You're working on a critical sales proposal in Google Docs. Typically, you bounce between tabs, copy and paste from various sources, and ask Gemini for help in another window. But with Gems sitting right there in your side panel, you've got your own custom AI experts - ones that you've trained specifically for your company's voice, your product positioning, your target market - working alongside you in real-time.
The beauty of Gems isn't just that they exist. It's that they're yours. You can create a Gem that knows your company's tone of voice, understands your specific industry jargon, and writes exactly the way you need it to write. Want a copywriting assistant that always remembers to include your three core value propositions? Done. Need a technical reviewer who flags overly complex language for your non-technical audience? You got it.
Now, Microsoft has done impressive work embedding Copilot into Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. They've made AI assistance a table-stakes feature in productivity software. But here's where Google just leapfrogged them: Microsoft gives you one AI assistant that tries to do everything. Google lets you create multiple specialized experts that excel at specific tasks. It's the difference between having a general practitioner and having a team of specialists on call.
Think about this from a practical standpoint. Your marketing team can have their brand voice Gem. Sales can have their proposal-writing Gem. Legal can have their contract-review Gem. Each one optimized, each one consistent, each one immediately accessible across every Google Workspace app. The same Gem you use in Docs shows up in Sheets, Slides, Gmail - everywhere you work.
Let me provide a real-world example of how I applied it in this article. I have three Gems on the right: "Human written % vs AI %", "Value to my readers", and "Detailed Fact Checker." Each of these is a custom Gem I created to help with my writing. Here's what each of those three Gems does:
Human written % vs AI %: This Gem analyzes the writing and gives me its best estimate as to what % of the article appears to be human written vs AI written. I want to make sure that what I'm delivering is of high quality and won't be perceived as "AI slop" by my readers.
Value to my readers: This Gem provides a detailed analysis to estimate the value of this article to my audience, highlighting where I'm delivering value and where I'm falling short, and offers specific recommendations to improve it.
Detailed Fact Checker: This Gem goes through every fact I've written about in the article and verifies its accuracy, finding sources to support it. If they are only partially accurate, it provides recommendations to refine the text to ensure I'm as accurate as possible.
I use all of these in every article I write. I'll use the "Value to my readers" Gem as an example. When you are first working in a Google Doc, the Gemini logo is located in the upper right corner. Click that, and it opens up the Gemini panel with your Gems.
Select the Gem you want - in this case, I want to select "Value to my readers" and then give the needed instructions. I need to analyze a particular article. You can use the "@" reference when you start typing, and a list of current articles/items will pop up, so I chose the article I'm working on in this window ("@Gems in Workspace")
Then I had it run:
This is a powerful unlock as it allows me to stay in the environment without switching to different tabs and doing a lot of copying/pasting.
What strikes me most after using this feature is how it changes the mental model of AI assistance. We've been thinking of AI as an external entity we consult. But Gems feel different. They feel like the reliable colleague who understands your needs and consistently delivers high performance across your entire organization.
The productivity implications are clear. After three days of testing, I'm finding myself relying on my custom Gems for routine tasks. The time saved is measurable in hours per week. But more importantly, the consistency and quality improvements are significant for any business trying to maintain standards across distributed teams.
Here's my advice: Don't wait for your competitors to figure this out first. Set aside an hour this week, go into Gemini, and create your first Gem. Start simple: a Gem that rewrites the content in your company's tone or acts as a fact-checker. Then, open Google Docs, work on a new document, and click on that Gem. Use it for a day. Then watch as you realize you can create Gems for every repetitive communication task your team faces.
The real value isn't in replacing human creativity, but in supporting it with AI assistants that understand your specific context and needs. Google has provided us with practical tools to improve how we work, one Gem at a time.
If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to my newsletter and share it with others! Looking for help to use AI in your organization? Wondering where to start or what tools to use? Reply directly or reach out: steve@intelligencebyintent.com