Google Sheets one function to rule them all and in the darkness bind them

I first began using the spreadsheet software Lotus 1-2-3 in 1986 and have memorized and mastered an ever increasing number of spreadsheet functions over the decades since. Google has introduced a new AI function in Google Sheets that acts like the one ring in the Lord of the Rings: one function that rules all other functions. 

I spend a couple of weeks in MS 150 Statistics covering the normal distribution, standard error of the mean, t-distribution and t-critical, and 95% confidence intervals. The students learn to calculate the mean, the standard deviation, the standard error of the mean, t-critical, and then the lower and upper bounds of the 95% confidence interval.

The Google AI function replaces all spreadsheet functions with a single function () and a prompt inside the function. Tell the function what you want, and the function constructs the functions that give you the answer.


I have only entered a prompt inside the new AI function in cell C1 with data in column A of the  spreadsheet.


This appears for less than a minute and then...


And those are the correct upper and lower bounds for the 95% confidence interval using the t-distribution. Note that the AI function has been replaced by:

="[" & ROUND(AVERAGE(A2:A21)-CONFIDENCE.T(0.05, STDEV(A2:A21), COUNT(A2:A21)), 2) & ", " & ROUND(AVERAGE(A2:A21)+CONFIDENCE.T(0.05, STDEV(A2:A21), COUNT(A2:A21)), 2) & "]"

In essence, Gemini has approached this as a code writing exercise, and has made the appropriate choices for inputs to the functions. Gemini even thoughtfully chose an appropriate level of rounding. After the answer is displayed there is no trace of the prompt that generated the answer (other than the complexity of the string being something a student in MS 150 is not likely to generate by hand). 

So next term I just teach the class one function?


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