Setting Expectations on Excel's Addition of AI

Earlier this year Microsoft announced that it was introducing AI in its ubiquitous spreadsheet application Excel. Specifically what it said it would do -- the features are still in beta -- is add new AI-powered data types that will allow users to access deeper and more extensive information about a company or a place by pulling the information from the Microsoft Knowledge Group. "It recognizes, in context, what is meant by your text and converts that to the right type of data," Microsoft writes in a post. It's not just states or countries or companies either -- the new feature supports zip codes, cities, and other types of financial data like stocks and index funds, Microsoft noted. What's more Microsoft wrote, "as you try this feature, you may notice the intelligent conversions sometimes aren't sure what to convert to. In those cases, Excel will ask you to specify which data type should be returned from the service. For example, the city Portland works fine when it's a list of other cities that are nearby, but when it's in a blank grid, with no other textual context, then Excel will ask you which Portland you meant."