this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2025
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Excel COPILOT: make up spreadsheet numbers with AI! (pivot-to-ai.com)
submitted 3 days ago by dgerard@awful.systems to c/techtakes@awful.systems
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM_dJhsLqyg&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA - video
https://pivottoai.libsyn.com/20250826-excel-copilot-make-up-spreadsheet-numbers-with-ai - podcast

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[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The most useful thing would be if mid-level users had a system where they could just go "I want these cells to be filled with the second word of the info of the cell next to it", and it would just give you a few commands to use and maybe autofill them.

But no, that would be useful and checkable

[–] BlueMonday1984@awful.systems 6 points 2 days ago

It also wouldn't give Microsoft something to justify AI's existence with - they aren't selling "automated Excel commands", they're selling "magical chatbots which do everything".

[–] HedyL@awful.systems 2 points 2 days ago

The most useful thing would be if mid-level users had a system where they could just go “I want these cells to be filled with the second word of the info of the cell next to it”,

In such a case, it would also be very useful if the AI would ask for clarification first, such as: "By 'the cell next to it', you mean the cells in column No. xxx, is that correct?"

Now I wonder whether AI chatbots typically do that. In my (limited) experience, they often don't. They tend to hallucinate an answer rather than ask for clarification, and if the answer is wrong, I'm supposedly to blame because I prompted them wrong.