diff --git a/packages/ai/src/protocols/gemini.ts b/packages/ai/src/protocols/gemini.ts
index 3f22a5787e36..b8c1b4b95cd7 100644
--- a/packages/ai/src/protocols/gemini.ts
+++ b/packages/ai/src/protocols/gemini.ts
@@ -289,7 +289,9 @@ const lowerMessages = Effect.fn("Gemini.lowerMessages")(function* (request: LLMR
     if (message.role === "system") {
       const part = yield* ProviderShared.wrappedSystemUpdate("Gemini", message)
       const previous = contents.at(-1)
-      if (previous?.role === "user")
+      // Gemini rejects a continuation whose function-response turn carries extra
+      // parts, so an update after a tool result starts its own user turn.
+      if (previous?.role === "user" && !previous.parts.some((item) => "functionResponse" in item))
         contents[contents.length - 1] = { role: "user", parts: [...previous.parts, { text: part.text }] }
       else contents.push({ role: "user", parts: [{ text: part.text }] })
       continue
diff --git a/packages/ai/test/provider/gemini.test.ts b/packages/ai/test/provider/gemini.test.ts
index 60d536736dc0..c1579af7595d 100644
--- a/packages/ai/test/provider/gemini.test.ts
+++ b/packages/ai/test/provider/gemini.test.ts
@@ -139,6 +139,48 @@ describe("Gemini route", () => {
     }),
   )
 
+  it.effect("keeps system updates separate from function responses", () =>
+    Effect.gen(function* () {
+      const prepared = yield* compileRequest(
+        LLM.request({
+          model,
+          messages: [
+            Message.assistant([ToolCallPart.make({ id: "call_1", name: "lookup", input: { query: "weather" } })]),
+            Message.tool({ id: "call_1", name: "lookup", result: "done", resultType: "text" }),
+            Message.system("Update."),
+            Message.system("Later update."),
+          ],
+        }),
+      )
+
+      expect(prepared.body.contents).toEqual([
+        {
+          role: "model",
+          parts: [{ functionCall: { id: undefined, name: "lookup", args: { query: "weather" } } }],
+        },
+        {
+          role: "user",
+          parts: [
+            {
+              functionResponse: {
+                id: undefined,
+                name: "lookup",
+                response: { name: "lookup", content: "done" },
+              },
+            },
+          ],
+        },
+        {
+          role: "user",
+          parts: [
+            { text: "<system-update>\nUpdate.\n</system-update>" },
+            { text: "<system-update>\nLater update.\n</system-update>" },
+          ],
+        },
+      ])
+    }),
+  )
+
   it.effect("prepares multimodal user input and tool history", () =>
     Effect.gen(function* () {
       const prepared = yield* compileRequest(