Google LLC is enhancing the version of its Gemini assistant that is embedded in Chrome with a new time-saving tool called Skills.

The capability started rolling out today. It’s accessible on Mac, Windows and ChromeOS when Chrome’s language is set to U.S. English.

Earlier this year, Google upgraded its popular browser with a sidebar that provides access to Gemini. Users can enter natural language prompts, such as questions about a web page, and the artificial intelligence service generates natural language answers in the same panel. The sidebar can be opened by clicking a button in the upper-right corner of the browser interface.

The new Skills feature is embedded in the Gemini sidebar. It’s designed for users who regularly input the same prompts into the assistant. A developer, for example, might ask Gemini to generate technical summaries when browsing open-source projects on GitHub. Skills removes the need to manually type in a frequently used prompt by turning it into a reusable template.

The feature activates after users enter a request into Gemini and the chatbot displays its answer. A button below the AI-generated response provides the option to turn the prompt into a template, or Skill. Users can give the Skill a title and modify the text of the original prompt if needed. 

“The next time you need it, select your saved Skill in Gemini in Chrome by typing forward slash ( / ) or clicking the plus sign ( + ) button, and your Skill will run on the page you’re viewing, along with any other tabs you select,” Chrome product manager Hafsah Ismail wrote in a blog post. “You can edit your saved Skills and create new ones at any time.”

A single Skill can contain multiple instructions. A user could, for example, build a Skill that identities the ingredients of a dessert mentioned by an article and displays low-sugar substitutes. It’s also possible to customize details such as the format in which Gemini displays its answer.

Google has released more than 50 Skills that are available through a new prompt library. They speed up tasks such as summarizing YouTube videos and picking gifts.

Microsoft Corp. and Perplexity AI Inc. have both embedded features similar to Skills in their respective browsers. OpenAI Group PBC, however, doesn’t yet support such shortcuts in its AI-powered Atlas browser. That may change in the wake of Google’s update.

Skills is not the first automation feature the company has added to Chrome since the start of the year. In February, it debuted an AI agent called Auto Browse that can take actions on the user’s behalf. It’s designed to automate tasks such as comparing e-commerce listings and filling forms. 

Image: Google