Welcome to issue 22 of the Sheets Insiders membership program.
You can see the full archives here.
🚨 New Function Alert
Oooh, this is interesting.
Although they haven’t formally announced it yet, the Sheets documentation shows a new AI function that brings AI directly into our Google Sheets.
This new formula uses Google’s Gemini AI model to generate text, summarize & categorize information, and analyze sentiment. That last task, analyzing sentiment, will be truly useful for anyone that works with survey data in Google Sheets.
The formula syntax is:
=AI("prompt", [optional range])
Of course, as soon as I heard about this function, I tried it in my Sheet. But, as of this morning, I don’t yet have access:
However, the official Google documentation page has an example showing this function in action:
Availability: At the moment, this function is only available to Alpha testers, so we’ll have to be patient for now.
I’ll bring an in-depth review as soon as I can get my hands on it. I’m excited for the possibilities this brings!
Read more in the documentation >>
How I stay informed of AI developments
Sticking with the theme of AI…
The field of AI moves so quickly that it can easily feel overwhelming.
I use these five sources to stay informed of developments and feel less panicked!
1) The Neuron (daily newsletter)
The Neuron is my go-to source for AI news. It’s written by humans for humans, in a fun and informal way.
Every weekday, they share the latest news and developments in the AI universe. Plus, they include tips for better prompts when using the AI tools.
If I only relied on one source, this would be it.
2) Superhuman (daily newsletter)
Superhuman is another daily newsletter that brings the latest AI news and tips direct to my inbox. I like to read it alongside The Neuron to get an alternative perspective and a sense of what the key developments are.
3) Ethan Mollick (twice monthly newsletter)
Ethan Mollick is a Professor at Wharton University and his newsletter provides a research-based view on the implications of AI and how it will affect us.
For example, he shared a post in December titled “15 Times to use AI, and 5 Not to”.
4) Gary Marcus (not-quite-daily newsletter)
The previous 3 newsletters are generally bullish on AI and its impact and timelines. I balance that out by reading this newsletter from Gary Marcus — an AI entrepreneur and author — who is much more bearish in his outlook.
For example, his most recent post pours cold water on the claims by Anthropic’s CEO that within 12 months nearly all code will be written by AI.
5) Andrej Karpathy (YouTube channel)
Andrey Karpathy is a former founding member of OpenAI and Senior Director of AI at Tesla, and is one of the most respected and knowledgeable voices in the AI world.
He publishes practical, in-depth tutorials on how to use Large Language Models and how they work.