What Is Gemini Agent? Google’s Work Agent, and What to Ask Before You Turn It On

Gemini agent is Google Cloud’s new agent for work, announced on October 8, 2026 at Gemini at Work 2026. Google calls it a "single, universal agent for work" that takes a goal, plans the steps and works inside Gmail, Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Chat and Calendar.

It is in private preview. Google has not published a price, a list of eligible plans or a launch date. This piece covers what Google announced, what the agent can do, the identity and permission controls, how it relates to Gemini Spark and Gemini Enterprise, and how it lines up against OpenAI, Anthropic and Microsoft.

The short version: Gemini agent is the business version of an idea Google already sells to consumers as Gemini Spark. The new parts are agents with their own identities, sandboxes, audit trails and per-project spend caps. For a nonprofit or association on Google Workspace, there is nothing to switch on yet. Use the wait to get answers on plan eligibility, price, data handling and which models will touch your data.

This is a snapshot as of October 10, 2026. Expect details to change as the preview widens.

What Google announced on October 8

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian introduced the agent in a Google Cloud blog post adapted from his keynote. Google’s shorter Keyword post says "work now starts in the prompt window."

The pitch is one agent for most knowledge work. Google says it answers questions, handles research and writing, creates images and media, and writes and runs code. Its summary line is "You give it objectives, not instructions."

A few design points stand out.

• It runs in Google’s cloud. Google says work “that takes hours or days keeps running after you close your laptop.”
• It splits large jobs. It can start temporary sub-agents for steps that run in parallel or in sequence.
• It remembers. Google lists four kinds of memory: the current task, a knowledge base, how jobs get done, and a record of past work.
• It picks the model. Google says it routes each job across “our Gemini family of models and Claude models from Anthropic today.”

That last point is unusual. A Workspace customer could have some tasks handled by an Anthropic model without choosing Claude directly.

What the Gemini agent can do in Workspace

Inside Workspace, Google says the agent "works directly inside Gmail, Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Chat, and Calendar." It carries the same memory, skills and controls into each app. 9to5Google reports that users can call it by mentioning @Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Chat.

Google gives two kinds of examples.

As a personal assistant. You ask it to set up a meeting with your regional event leads next week. It finds the people from a Chat space, checks calendars and emails to settle a time.

As a coworker agent. A team sets up an agent with a standing role, such as an events coordinator. A manager asks it in Chat to draft a launch readiness document. It posts the draft back, or suggests edits in a Doc comment thread under its own name.

Google also describes a feature it calls Workspace Intelligence. If your manager emails asking for a project update as a slide deck, Google says Workspace Intelligence spots that as a task and offers a one-click handoff to the agent.

Outside Workspace, Google lists Microsoft 365, Slack, the command line, and Windows and Mac desktops as places to use it. It names connectors for Salesforce, Jira, Confluence, ServiceNow and any MCP server. For a nonprofit, that list matters if your CRM or association management system is not a Google product.

Who gets the Gemini agent, and what it costs

This is where the announcement is thinnest. Google’s two posts give no price, no edition list and no date.

The Workspace Updates blog had no post on the Gemini agent as of October 9. That blog is where Google normally lists editions, rollout dates and admin settings. Wait for that post before you plan around a date.

Cost controls are clearer than cost. Google says the agent tracks token and sandbox costs per project. When a project hits its spend cap, its agent pauses until someone resumes it in the console. Google described those caps, plus a pay-as-you-go Gemini Enterprise edition, in an August post on billing and cost controls for agents.

Coworker agents get their own identity

The security design is the most concrete part of the announcement. It matters to anyone who has had to explain an automated email sent from a staff member’s account.

• Separate identity. Google says “a coworker agent acts under its own identity rather than yours, and it sees only what you share with it.”
• Its own accounts. Coworker agents get their own @agents.company.com email address, their own storage, and a listing in the company directory.
• Sandbox. Google says every agent runs “inside an Agent Sandbox with its own network boundary.”
• Agent Gateway. All traffic in, out and between agents passes through what Google calls an AI network firewall that applies your policies.
• Audit trail. Every action is logged and attributed to the agent, not to a person.

Google says permissions are role-based and approved by security admins. Connections to outside systems pass identity through standards such as OAuth.

On data, Google says "your proprietary inputs and outputs remain entirely your own." It has not yet published a Gemini agent page on retention or training. For the cross-app Gemini features that rolled out in September, the Workspace Updates post says "Your data is not reviewed by humans or used to train Gemini models." Ask whether the same terms cover the agent, including jobs routed to Claude models.

How Gemini agent relates to Gemini Spark and Gemini Enterprise

Google now has three overlapping things with similar names. Here is how they fit, as far as Google has said.

Gemini Spark is the consumer agent Google launched at I/O in May. We covered it in our Gemini Spark explainer. Google’s Spark release notes show it rolling out to Google AI Ultra and Google AI Pro subscribers. Those notes do not address Workspace accounts. Neither of Google’s October 8 posts mentions Spark, so Google has not said whether Spark and the Gemini agent share parts.

Gemini Enterprise is Google’s paid platform for agents at work, sold in Business, Standard, Plus, Frontline and pay-as-you-go editions. 9to5Google reports that the agent is offered in the Gemini Enterprise app as well as Workspace. Google’s edition comparison page did not mention the Gemini agent as of October 10.

Gemini in Workspace already does some of this. In September, Google rolled out cross-app Gemini that drafts and sends email, schedules meetings and manages to-dos from Gmail, Docs, Slides, Chat and Drive. That feature shows a preview card before it sends an email or books a meeting. It is listed for Business Standard and Plus and Enterprise Standard and Plus.

Two other recent changes touch the same ground. Gemini skills are replacing Gems, and Google says the agent uses skills. Several Gemini features also arrived on by default in Workspace in September. If you have not checked those settings, start there.

How the Gemini agent compares with ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot

Every major vendor now runs a work agent in its own cloud. We compared where AI agents run last week. The differences are in who can get them today and how they handle identity.

OpenAI. Our dots explainer covers OpenAI’s always-on agents. A dot works toward a standing goal on its own cloud computer and can post in Slack and Teams. On Enterprise and Edu, an admin must turn the beta on.

Anthropic. Anthropic folded Cowork into Claude in September, starting with Pro and Max. Our post on the Claude Cowork merger covers what Team admins should check.

Microsoft. Microsoft’s Entra Agent ID documentation says it "helps you manage, govern, and protect AI agent identities across your organization." That is the closest match to Google’s coworker identities. Our Agent 365 post covers Microsoft’s control plane.

Google and Microsoft are building agent identity into the directory. In our earlier coverage, OpenAI and Anthropic agents work mostly through the user’s own connected apps.

What a Workspace nonprofit should ask before turning on Gemini agent

Most nonprofits and associations on Workspace will not see the Gemini agent this month. When your reseller or Google rep raises it, these questions settle most of the risk.

1. Does our edition qualify? Ask specifically about Workspace for Nonprofits and Education editions. Google has not named them.
2. What does it cost? Ask whether it is per seat, pay-as-you-go, or both, and whether nonprofit discounts apply.
3. Is it on by default? Ask for the admin console setting and who it applies to.
4. Who approves coworker agents? Each one gets an email address and directory entry. Decide who can create them and how they are retired.
5. Which models handle our data? Ask whether you can block routing to Claude or other outside models, and whether the same data terms apply.
6. What does it remember, and for how long? Ask how to view and delete the agent’s memory.
7. Which outside systems will it reach? List your CRM, AMS and finance tools, and decide which connectors stay off.
8. Where do audit logs go? Confirm you can see actions attributed to each agent.

Frequently Asked Questions