❤️ 3 hacks for AI power in Google Sheets

AI-HOI AInauts,

Happy Monday! And welcome to the new issue of your favorite newsletter. Today with an exciting mix of practical tips and news. Are you ready? Here's what we have in store for you:

• ❤️ Google Sheets with AI power: Our top 3 hacks

• 📓 Book tip: Prompt Engineering for Generative AI

• 📰 AI news quickie: The highlights

Here we go!

❤️ Google Sheets with AI power: our Top 3 Hacks

If you're staring lost at your Google Sheet and wondering if there's an easier way, then we have good news: AI is your savior in need and always on hand!

Tip 1: Use Apps from the Google Workspace Marketplace

The Google Workspace Marketplace is a real treasure trove of AI tools that can make your life easier. Many of them are free, quickly installed and easy to use - and have often been tried and tested millions of times.

For example: ChatGPT in Google Sheets™ and Docs™ by Talarian, or AI Assist for Gemini™ in Sheets™ and Docs™ by GW Add-ons, Numerous.ai (examples here), etc.

Tip 2: Creating formulas with ChatGPT and Claude Sonnet 3.5

We remember only too well the times when we spent hours searching on Stack Overflow and tinkering with a formula, only to realize in the end that we had forgotten a semicolon ... Those days are numbered, because with ChatGPT and Claude, formula creation really becomes child's play.

• Automatic formula creation: You tell ChatGPT what you want to do via the voice function ("Hey ChatGPT, create a formula that colors all cells in column A red if the value is greater than 100.")

• Have formulas explained: Copy a complex formula into the chat and ask for it to be "analyzed and explained step by step - so that even beginners can understand it". You can also export the file as Excel and upload it for more context.

As you can see, AI can help you to create and explain formulas and correct errors. But it can also be used to clean and complete data or generate fake test data.

AI also supports you in analyzing and extracting data, explaining, searching and writing code and generating regular expressions (regex). More details here.

Tip 3: Create your own AI app with Google Apps Script

It is really cool to bring the AI functionality directly into your sheet and integrate it into your formulas/cells! Thanks to Claude Sonnet, this is easier than ever before. Here’s a brief overview:

1. Have Claude write an App script: Have Claude Sonnet program a connection to the API of Anthropic (or OpenAI). For example, with this prompt:

2. Install the Google Apps Script: Follow the instructions and open the script editor in Google Sheets under Extensions > Apps Script, and paste the generated code there.

3. Establish the API connection: Connect your Google Sheet to the API and use your new helper formula directly in Google Sheets!

To set this up only takes a few minutes! Here is an example sheet with a ticket system that automatically answers the tickets.

🧩 Conclusion: Your spreadsheets will never be the same again

You are now well-equipped to master any challenge in Google Sheets intelligently. Your creative approach will not only impress your colleagues, but also show your boss that you are a true expert when it comes to modern technologies 😎 Have fun!

P.S.: And if you are a die-hard Excel user, don't worry: Microsoft will certainly be upgrading it with AI features soon - see details here (PDF).

📓 Book tip: Prompt Engineering for Generative AI

This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how generative AI models work - and how to get them to produce the desired result.

It takes a very practical approach: large language models such as ChatGPT and the most important image diffusion models such as Midjourney and Stable Diffusion are covered, as well as LangChain, vector databases with FAISS and Pinecone, autonomous agents with memory and tools, and the creation of AI-supported apps.

As you can see, it's a really comprehensive work. And that's the problem: most of us don’t take the time to study the 785-page book in detail.

That's why we've put together a concise 20-page summary so that you can absorb the most important findings right away. Here you go!

…or copy as Google Doc / download as PDF

📰 AI-News-Quickie: The HAI-lights

It's time for another comprehensive update on the most important news from the AI universe - here we go!

Models & Updates

• OpenAI has released GPT-4o mini, a cheaper ($0.15 per million input tokens and $0.60 for output) and better model that replaces GPT-3.5 Turbo in ChatGPT and is already available via the API. It is probably the best model at the lowest price!

• ElevenLabs has released Turbo 2.5, which enables 3x faster high-quality, low-latency speech synthesis in 32 languages.

• While not a new model, a doubled API output token window (new: 8192) for Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 3.5 is exciting, and also the Haiku fine-tuning option on Amazon Bedrock.

• And finally, there’s an Android app for the Claude chatbot, plus the option to create better prompt tests. And Anthropic also announced a $100 million fund for new investments in AI start-ups.

• Developers should take a look at the Claude Engineer project by Pietro Schirano, which equips Claude with agents - very cool!

• Video Generator Haiper.ai has released version 1.5 - nice one, abd you can test it for free. And MorphStudio is also a fun playground.

• Mistral AI has introduced the powerful Mistral NeMo 12B with 128k context length (perfect for local installations), as well as Codestral Mamba for developers and MathΣtral for math and science.

• Is AuraFlow the best open-source model for text-to-image generation (better than Stable Diffusion 3)? Decide for yourself, you can download it here and use it locally, or use it via https://fal.ai (there are also many other great models to play around with) - more details and tests at Matt Vid Pro.

Feature Updates & Apps

• Microsoft Designer, the Canva alternative, is now being integrated into many Microsoft apps.

• ChatGPT can now also create better comic strips (and if you are into creating comics, there is also the Comic Factory model).

• Samsung has presented a new AI image feature that allows you to insert elements into existing images - looks really cool!

• And we are excited about the new Samsung Galaxy AI Ring.

• Have you played with the real-time image editor from Krea.ai?

• Removing image backgrounds just got easier and better!

• Attention CAD users! With the AI CAD Model Generator and text-to-cad.zoo.dev, you can easily generate CAD-files.

• Learn to draw better - thanks to AI! PaintsUndo makes it possible.

• We love Magnific, and now there's a Photoshop plugin too.

• Live Portrait Animation has amazed the web!

• ...and we love Claude Artifacts - here's a Runway Gen3 Video Prompt Generator to remix. Sorry, (chat)GPT...

Fun & Entertainment

• OpenAI has also published a handful of new Sora teaser videos.

• AI interior design apps are not yet beyond all doubt ...

• And the latest Miss AI is ... the AI-generated influencer Kenza Layli - presented by Worlds First AI Creator Awards (waicas.com).

Industry

• An "AI mafia" is forming, made up of talents who have left OpenAI, Google and Apple, to start their own company.

• Ex-Tesla and ex-OpenAI luminary Andrej Karpathy launches the AI + education company Eureka Labs. We are excited!

• Meta denies the EU its new multimodal AI models due to unclear regulations - further straining the relationship between tech giants and European authorities.

• Trump allies are planning a comprehensive AI executive order focusing on military development and industry-led regulation - contrary to current policy.

• The US public prefers a safe development vs. an arms race with China (and the Chinese are pushing for international cooperation).

Research

• More than just hype! AI will revolutionize medical diagnosis and the healthcare industry.

• Google DeepMind has presented AlphaFold 3, which can predict not "just" proteins, but all biomolecules - a quantum leap that will give us better medicines.

• ChatGPT passes the US medical license exam with flying colors - 98% correct answers! The average doc gets 75% ...

That's it for today. We hope you liked it - see you next time!

Reto & Fabian from the AInauts

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