Prefer simple tools for repetitive jobs. Prefer AI for writing Excel macros, not for uploading and reading your csv file every time you need an identical report ran. A better example. A friend using Claude to process a large Excel file in an attempt to run some basic financial analysis of stock prices.
Excel is an incredibly powerful tool, perfectly capable of handling huge amounts of data and running computations on it. The likelihood that ai perfectly handles every point of data without corrupting it is low. The cost of that compute compared to Excel running that calculation is infinite. Consider your sun-powered pocket calculator.
Instead, extract a small amount of data and then prompt ai to either write you an Excel macro, or show you how to make a macro to compute the result you want. Save yourself the headache when ai inevitably screws up your data (with or without you knowing), stalls and refuses to complete the task, all the while burning through your last token. The 1 thing it never fails to do.
Choose the best tool for the job. Excel still reigns supreme for 99% of basic data analysis. Ai now reigns supreme for helping you learn how to write and implement Excel macros.