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We put the Thing That Can't Do Numbers™ in your spreadsheets
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this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2025
846 points (100.0% liked)
iiiiiiitttttttttttt
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you know the computer thing is it plugged in?
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If done correctly it could actually be useful. It could read the input text, select the numbers above, and feed those numbers to the sum command.
But no, the language model is told to solve a mathematical equation with no assistance. Of course it's going to fail.
When you use spread sheets a lot, much of what makes you productive is that you know exactly what Excel will do. Like yes I know it's going to try to increment when actually I want to fill this column with 1s or whatever, but I can hold ctrl and override it and all is good.
With copilot, you will never be sure what it's going to do. I feel like it would slow me down even if it guessed right 90% of the time.
That's not just limited to excel. The basic value of computers is how deterministic they are. AI is just probability programs that are reintroduce chaos into the system.
Yeah. Using it to help write functions is one thing. Using it to actually calculate.... Lmao
I'm pretty sure it just replaces itself with what it thinks is the correct Excel expression. That way the use can audit and correct the AI's work (and Microsoft isn't liable for miscalculations). Firing off to co-pilot every evaluation would be insanely irresponsible.