What it means that Google launched the Gemini agent and gave its agents their own email — October 8, 2026
· CompaniesAutomation
Flash Radar Edition: Google Cloud introduces the Gemini agent, which works by goals and creates companion agents with their own email in Workspace. What to decide before activating it.
Flash Edition. In this morning's Radar, we shared that AI is entering companies through the software they already pay for. Hours later, Google went big: its new Gemini agent will arrive within Workspace and can create agents with their own email addresses.
What Happened
This Thursday, October 8, at Gemini at Work 2026, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian introduced the Gemini agent: a single agent for work that answers questions, handles knowledge work, creates images and media, and writes and runs code from a single prompt box. "You give it objectives, not instructions," he summarized (Source). It works within Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Drive, Chat, and Calendar, as well as from Microsoft 365 or Slack, and keeps running tasks that take hours or days after you close your laptop.
The most significant development is coworker agents: you describe a role and Gemini creates an agent with its own Workspace account (email, calendar, Drive, and directory listing) that acts with its own identity, signs its changes with its name, and only sees what you share with it. Each task goes to the model that fits best, Gemini or Anthropic's Claude, and spending can be capped per project: once the limit is reached, the agent stops (Source). It is currently in private preview, with no release date or price published (Source).
Why It Matters
Until now, Gemini in Gmail was an assistant: it helped you write, but you were the one who hit send. An agent with its own email address that works for days on its own is something else, and it arrives via a subscription that many small businesses already pay for, without an implementation project. The question is no longer what I ask it to do, but what I allow it to do. And we already know what happens when no one decides: a bank that banned agents found more than 4,000 (we reported this on September 30). In Spain, some are moving fast: Orange Spain has created more than 1,000 agents with Gemini Enterprise, according to Google.
For Your Business
If you use Google Workspace, there is nothing to buy today, but there is plenty to decide before the button appears. Treat setting up a coworker agent like onboarding a new employee:
- What it sees: only what you share with it. Start with one folder and one Chat space, not the entire drive.
- What it sends: whether it can write to customers and suppliers or only leave drafts. What it sends comes from a company address.
- How much it spends: if you buy through Google Cloud, set a cap per department from day one.
In the AI First ladder, only with these three written rules can an agent move to UNATTENDED; without them, it is running loose.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Gemini coworker agent?
An agent with a fixed role that works for a team, not for an individual. You mention it in Chat or in a comment, and its edits carry its name in the history.
When does it arrive and how much does it cost?
Google has not given a date or price. It will arrive "soon" for Workspace customers with certain Business and Enterprise plans.
Does it only use Google models?
No. Today it splits work between Gemini and Claude, and Google promises to add other private and open models.