AI is everywhere. And I mean everywhere.

Your email tool has it. Your spreadsheet has it. Even your coffee maker is probably marketing itself as "AI-powered" these days.

The pitch is always the same:

"This will do your work for you."

"Build fully functional apps without knowing how to code."

"10x your productivity."

And yeah, sometimes AI actually delivers. It's genuinely impressive when it does.

But here's what I've noticed: when it works, the work doesn't disappear. It just changes.

You go from creating to validating. From building to auditing. And let's just say: validating is often harder than creating. It requires even more knowledge, not less.

But the marketing won't tell you that.

Instead, they're calling it "vibe working."

If my boss introduced me to colleagues as a "vibe worker," I'd be offended. What does that even mean? That I only work when the vibe is right? That I'm unreliable?

This whole AI-will-replace-your-job-but-also-make-you-a-vibe-worker thing came up when I joined the Unpivot podcast crew. We got into my rocky relationship with Excel's Agent mode, talked about the behind-the-scenes of MVP music video and swapped notes on creating content.

Great chat, I'm grateful for the invite 😊

Looking forward to the reunion at the Global Excel Summit next May in London.

If you'd like to join us, there're still early bird tickets left (use the code LEILA at checkout for an extra 20% off).

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🤓 Geeky News

🐍 Python in Excel: Customize your startup

Python in Excel comes pre-loaded with libraries important for data analysis. You don't need to import pandas to reshape your data or seaborn to create a swarmplot.

Until now, you could only view the initialization code. Now, you can edit it.

Add your own imports, functions, or configurations. Whatever your actual workflow needs.

Here's the best part: unlike code in the grid (which recalculates every time you change a Python cell), initialization code runs once when the workbook opens (or whenever you reset). Anything you define there is available throughout the workbook.

Rolling out to Insiders in Excel for Windows.

🪟 Animated wallpapers on Windows

Microsoft is testing the ability to add videos as wallpapers on Windows 11.

Spotted by insiders in the latest Preview build, when you go to personalize background, you can now choose from video formats like mp4 or mkv, in addition to standard images. The chosen clip will play on a loop.

Early tests suggest it's not a drain on resources, since only short and small videos are allowed.

Question is - will it act as distraction? The third party tools that allow it are very popular, so whether they distract or not, many people seem to want it.

I'll stick to my solid dark grey with no clutter.

🤖 Windows 11 gets agentic

And in over(?)hyped AI news...

Microsoft is rolling out several Copilot updates for Windows 11.

Voice is now the main interface. You can say "Hey Copilot" to start hands-free conversations.

Copilot Vision is expanding globally. It analyzes what's on your screen and can guide you step-by-step through apps or help you work with documents.

Windows Insiders are testing Copilot Actions, which can handle local file tasks: sort photos, extract text from PDFs, organize files based on what you describe.

New connectors let Copilot search across OneDrive, Outlook, and Google Drive in one place. Taskbar integration gives you quicker access.

The good news is that you have to opt in to use those features. Microsoft promises security and transparency. You can see what Copilot does and disable it anytime.

Time will tell how useful it really is.

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👏 Wait, I Can Do What?

Huge congrats to Julia who just completed Python in Excel for the Real World 🎉

She went from "I can do this" to "wait, I can do what?"

Now when she sits down to solve a problem, she's not limited by what she already knew. She sees options that didn't exist before. Some she'll use tomorrow. Some in six months. But they're there.

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See you next week,

Leila

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