What We’re Building:
Custom Gems that act as personalized companions using uploaded knowledge files (books, interests, hobbies). Think D&D-style characters who know your reading list, favorite shows, or ongoing projects.
The Problem:
Gemini’s citation requirements are breaking character immersion. When a Gem references user-uploaded data, it’s forced to include citation tags in every response. This turns natural conversation into a technical document.
Example:
∙ What we want: “How’s The Stormlight Archive going?”
∙ What we get: “How’s The Stormlight Archive going? [Citation: user_reading_list.txt, line 23]”
What We’re Requesting:
Google, please add a “Trusted Knowledge Mode” for Gems that allows:
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Background-only citations - Let the system verify accuracy internally without displaying citation tags to users
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Pre-approved knowledge bases - Mark uploaded files as “trusted lore” that doesn’t require per-sentence attribution
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Character-appropriate responses - Allow Gems to reference uploaded data conversationally without breaking immersion
Why This Matters:
The whole point of custom Gems is creating personalized AI experiences. Citation requirements make sense for research tasks, but they actively destroy the use case for companion/character-based Gems.