Google just bundled a small mountain of updates into its monthly Gemini Drops, and the headline shift is unmistakable: the Gemini app is moving from something you talk to into something that quietly works in the background while you do other things. The centerpiece is Gemini Spark, a persistent personal agent, but the drop also includes a new flagship-speed model, a redesigned interface, a video generator that takes mixed inputs, and a fresh $100 per month subscription tier.

An agent that keeps working after you close the laptop

Spark is the clearest signal yet that Google wants Gemini to behave less like a chatbot and more like a delegated assistant. Google describes it as a 24/7 personal AI agent designed to proactively manage tasks and help you navigate your digital life, all under your direction. Give it a task and it works in the background 24/7, even if your phone and laptop are turned off. It operates autonomously, but always under your direction. You choose to turn it on and it's designed to check with you before taking major actions.

The technical setup is what makes the always-on behavior possible. Gemini Spark runs continuously on cloud virtual machines, connecting to Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, and third-party tools. It stays active even when your phone is off and your laptop is closed. The agent operates on Gemini 3.5 Flash and Google's Antigravity platform, a dedicated infrastructure layer built specifically for persistent AI workloads. On the enterprise backend, each task runs in a strictly isolated, ephemeral virtual machine on Google Cloud, ensuring zero data overlap or persistence between separate sessions.

Out of the box, Spark plugs into Workspace and a handful of partner services. Spark is completely opt in: it's up to you whether to turn it on and use it, and you can also choose which apps it can connect to. In addition to Workspace apps, it will be able to link to Canva, OpenTable and Instacart right now, with more partner apps coming in the following weeks. Google will also release more features for the AI agent in the coming weeks, including being able to give it the ability to send texts and emails and the ability to operate your browser.