Bring AI to your formulas with the COPILOT function in Excel

Introducing the COPILOT Function in Excel: AI Inside Your Formulas
This post covers Microsoft’s new COPILOT function for Excel on Windows and Mac.
You will learn what it does and why it matters for data workflows.
Why should you care?

• It brings large language model capabilities directly into the spreadsheet environment.
• It updates results automatically because it is part of Excel’s calculation engine.
• It can be combined with existing formulas like IF, SWITCH and LAMBDA.

What the COPILOT function does
COPILOT lets you send a natural language prompt from a cell and receive AI-generated results in the grid.
It can summarize text, classify feedback, generate content and produce structured outputs.
Because it is integrated with Excel’s calculation engine, results refresh when inputs change.
Example prompt snippet:
=COPILOT("Classify this feedback", D4:D18)
This will return classifications for each cell in the referenced range.
Note that Microsoft states data passed through COPILOT is not used to train their models.

How COPILOT fits into existing formulas
You can nest COPILOT inside standard functions or feed its output into them.
That keeps your spreadsheet structure unchanged while adding AI capabilities.
Example using COPILOT inside an IF:
=IF(COPILOT("Is this urgent?", B2)="Yes", "Action", "Backlog")
You can also combine multiple prompt/context arguments like =COPILOT(prompt_part1, context1, prompt_part2, context2).

Practical use case: customer feedback
Imagine you have user comments about a new coffee machine.
Traditionally you would read and tag hundreds of entries manually.
With COPILOT you reference the comments range and ask for sentiment or categories.
Example:
=COPILOT("Summarize feedback and list top 3 issues", A2:A200)
I recently tested a simple script-generation task with COPILOT and was pleasantly surprised by the iteration speed.
However, I also validated the outputs before using them in reports.

Availability and next steps
COPILOT is rolling out to Beta Channel users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
Excel for the web access is planned via the Frontier program.
Want the official details and examples?
Read the Microsoft announcement here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365insiderblog/bring-ai-to-your-formulas-with-the-copilot-function-in-excel/4443487
Microsoft is iterating on models and features based on feedback.

Wrapping up
COPILOT brings generative AI into the cell-level workflow in a practical way.
It can speed up routine text analysis and content generation while fitting into existing spreadsheets.
Will it replace expert validation? No.
Will it reduce time spent on repetitive processing? Likely yes.
For senior leaders, the question is how to pilot this safely and measure real business value.
Start with low-risk datasets, define validation steps and track time saved.
That approach creates measurable impact from GenAI without disrupting critical processes.