Microsoft has announced plans to integrate Python into excel as part of its latest Copilot AI push.
The move, part of the company’s broader expansion of its Microsoft 365 Copilot suite, is designed to boost productivity to giving workers access to advanced tools that can be controlled through natural language input.
Python integration will allow workers to perform complex tasks, like data analysis, forecasting, risk assessment and machine learning, without the need to write code.
Excel gets AI-powered Python
Microsoft hopes that by enabling users to carry out these more advanced tasks from within its spreadsheet software, Excel can become a better tool for modern data science.
A demo video shared in the announcement confirmed workers can overwrite the Python code to tweak as necessary.
Jared Spataro, Corporate VP of AI at Work for Microsoft, commented: “It’s like adding a skilled data analyst to the team.”
The tool, Copilot in Excel with Python, is currently in public preview.
The welcome addition forms part of a much broader strategy that Microsoft is currently rolling out, which it calls ‘Wave 2’. Redmond says this is in response to the positive feedback of its AI-powered tools in Teams.
Wave 2 will include further enhancements across the entire suit, including dynamic storytelling in PowerPoint and inbox management aids in Outlook.
The Python-powered Excel enhancements are part of a partnership with data science, ML and AI company Anaconda.
Anaconda’s Chief AI & Innovation Officer, Peter Wang, commented: “We are thrilled to announce the general availability of Python in Excel, a major breakthrough that will transform the workflow of millions of Excel users around the world.”
Microsoft Excel Head of Product Catherine Pidgeon added: “With the general availability of Python in Excel, we are ushering in a new era of data analysis.”
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