ChatGPT is a Large Language Model (LLM) capable of performing some calculations on its own. While it handles simple arithmetic reasonably well and continues to improve, it frequently makes mistakes—and worse, it is “unaware” of them. This means it presents incorrect results with the same confidence as correct ones.
To address this limitation, ChatGPT includes an integrated Python runtime environment (Code Interpreter). When asked to perform calculations, it often writes Python code to execute them. These calculations are generally reliable, provided the language model correctly understands the user’s instructions. However, the types of calculations commonly found in spreadsheets can be difficult to describe in natural language and surprisingly tricky to replicate with traditional programming.
In many ways, spreadsheets act as a specialized programming language for business calculations, and a vast amount of business data and logic is already encoded in this format. Unfortunately, ChatGPT cannot directly access or understand spreadsheet models, including their formulas, references, and calculation methods. Worse still, when users upload spreadsheets, ChatGPT attempts to interpret them using its Code Interpreter, essentially inventing logic on the fly.
By integrating GRID with ChatGPT, we combine strengths: ChatGPT excels at language, while GRID ensures reliable and accurate handling of numbers. Let ChatGPT handle the words and leave the calculations to us.
