Revealing Microsoft’s Research: SpreadsheetLLM AI Model Deciphers Complex Spreadsheet Data for Improved LLM Understanding.

Microsoft’s team of researchers has released their research on SpreadsheetLLM, an AI model that converts spreadsheet data (Excel, Google Sheets) into a format that works well on large language models (LLM – Large Language Model) to help LLM better understand the content in spreadsheets and align with users’ needs.

The reason for developing this tool specifically for spreadsheet documents is due to the unique structure of data in spreadsheets that users often require. Data linking and complex formulas are common, making it not a simple table. In this case, LLM mostly can understand the content already.

SpreadsheetLLM works by converting data into individual cells, finding connections, and generating a new set of data for LLM to comprehend and interpret the content. Currently, it is still a research project as there are limitations such as not distinguishing background color-text color, which is crucial in spreadsheets, and not separating natural languages in data. However, this research sheds light on the direction Microsoft aims to push AI into their software products in the future.

Source: VentureBeat

TLDR: Microsoft’s researchers introduce SpreadsheetLLM, an AI model transforming spreadsheet data into a suitable format for large language models, paving the way for AI integration in future software products.