I tried Gemini's new Skills feature in Chrome and it's like a mini toolkit
of AI shortcuts

Date:
Mon, 20 Apr 2026 11:06:18 +0000

Description:
Chromes AI Skills transform repeated prompts into one-click tools

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Become a Member in Seconds Unlock instant access to exclusive member
features. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting
your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Join the club Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards. Explore An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Google s new Skills feature inside Gemini for Chrome enables you to save Gemini prompts you've used on a web page, so you can use them on others. So, if you find yourself asking for the same kind of help again and again, you
can save that request and run it instantly on whatever page you are viewing. It takes the most repetitive part of using AI and removes it, turning a
prompt into something closer to a tool.

That shift becomes more obvious the moment you stop thinking of prompts as one-off instructions and start treating them like part of your browser. Just open Gemini in Chrome and type an instruction based on what you want the AI
to do. This can be anything from summarizing a page to comparing multiple tabs. After running the prompt once and confirming it produces the kind of result you want, you can click "Save" to save it as a Skill directly from
your chat history. Article continues below You may like 5 prompts for Gemini 3.1 that show off its full potential I tried importing my ChatGPT memory into Gemini I upgraded my AI image prompts using Geminis advice: it changed everything From that point on, the prompt can be triggered by typing a
forward slash, "/", in the Gemini panel or selecting it from the Skills menu. Skills for helping you create a meal (Image credit: Gemini) Google has not left users to figure everything out from scratch. Alongside the feature, it has introduced a Skills library filled with ready-made prompts designed for common tasks. These are essentially templates that can be added, tweaked, and reused without much effort. I started there with the meal planner skill. Navigating to a random recipe page for a quiche, I opened Gemini up and
picked the skill from the available list. The graphic above was the result.

It took all of the details from the page and extrapolated an entire meal,
then transformed it into an infographic. Depending on how you learn and understand information, it's a cleaner, more organized version of the same recipe, plus two other additions of pasta and potatoes to make a whole meal. Ingredients were grouped logically, preparation steps were simplified, and
the entire process was laid out in basic timeline. Skills for helping you choose what to buy I then tried out the gift concierge Skill, using it for something that usually takes more time than it should. I had already done the familiar part of the process, opening a handful of tabs with jewelry I
thought my wife might like and narrowing it down to a few realistic options. Normally, that is where the real work begins, comparing small differences, second-guessing choices, and trying to keep track of which piece stood out
for which reason. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Running the Skill added a structured layer to that process almost
immediately. Before doing anything else, it asked a couple of simple clarifying questions about who the gift was for and the budget. That step
felt useful rather than intrusive, since it set boundaries that would shape everything that followed. Once that was in place, it scanned the open tabs
and produced what it described as a taste read, which was essentially a short summary of the style preferences it inferred from the items I had already selected.

That part was more interesting than expected. Instead of just repeating details from the pages, it drew connections among them, noting preferences
for understated designs, specific materials, and a balance between everyday wear and something slightly more distinctive. It was not perfectly precise, but it was close enough to feel like a reasonable interpretation of what I
had in mind.

From there, the Skill moved into a more concrete comparison. It generated a table of options that included the pieces I had already opened alongside a
few additional suggestions that fit within the same budget and general style. Seeing everything laid out together made the differences easier to evaluate. Price, materials, and design were presented in a consistent format, which removed some of the friction that usually comes from switching between pages. It did not eliminate the need to make a decision, but it made the decision clearer. What to read next Chrome puts AI agents, multitasking, and Nano Banana inside the browser Gemini's new notebooks feature fixes frustrating AI memory lapses Gemini 3.1 Pro vs Gemini 3 Pro: Googles new AI is slower on purpose

The Skill even suggested building a matching set around one of the necklaces. It proposed complementary pieces that would work together, effectively
turning a single item into a more complete gift idea. It wasn't that I couldn't do the same things, but having it all done without anything more
than entering "/gift concierge" was impressive. How to make your own Skill (Image credit: Chrome AI Skills) The library of skills is impressive, but I wanted to come up with a Skill of my own, so I devised a simple idea of turning something complex into a short comic strip explainer. In the Skills library, I clicked to add a skill, named it the "Comic Explainer," and wrote that I wanted it to turn a website's content into a simple four-panel comic explaining what was in it. Hitting the icon for Gemini to write it out, the
AI made a full Skill based on that request. The instructions focused on breaking down the content into a sequence of panels, adding simple dialogue, and keeping the core ideas intact while making them easier to follow.

To test it, I used a piece from the American Kennel Club about operant conditioning and positive reinforcement in dog training. The original article explains that behavior is shaped by consequences, with rewards increasing the likelihood that an action will be repeated and other outcomes decreasing it. It also emphasizes that positive reinforcement works by adding something the dog values, such as treats or praise, to encourage desired behavior.

Running the Skill transformed that structure into something closer to a step-by-step visual narrative. What changed most was not the content, but the format. The original article builds its argument through explanation and terminology. The comic version reduced that into a sequence of clear steps, each tied to a simple visual idea. It removed most of the technical language and replaced it with a narrative flow that was easier to follow at a glance.

That shift comes with trade-offs. Some of the nuance around the different types of reinforcement and punishment is lost, along with the broader framework of operant conditioning. But the central idea remains intact.

Skills can be useful, especially if there's something you'd like Gemini in Chrome to do frequently. You don't have to write it out every time or adjust it for each specific instance. Of course, A Skill is only as good as the prompt behind it, and even a well-designed one can flatten nuance if applied too broadly. Not every page benefits from being summarized, compared, or reimagined. Ultimately, it's about adding a shortcut to what you want the AI to do, which can be great, but you might miss something along the way. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too. The best business laptops for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

Read our full guide to the best business laptops 1. Best overall: Dell Precision 5690 2. Best on a budget: Acer Aspire 5 3. Best MacBook: Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M4)



======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/i-tried-chromes-new-ai-skill s-feature-and-its-like-a-mini-toolkit-of-ai-shortcuts


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)