Guess first, no penalty. An AI writes =SUMIFS(C:C, B:B, "North") and the cell shows 48,200. How do you know it's right?
AI tools write spreadsheet formulas from plain English. Google says Gemini in Sheets can generate formulas, and Microsoft says Copilot in Excel can apply formulas across sheets. A formula is only right if it gives the right answer on rows you can check.
Test every AI formula three ways:
A known total. Get the same number another way: a filter, a PivotTable (Excel's drag-and-drop summary table) or a figure you already trust.
A few rows by hand. Pick three rows and work out the answer yourself.
The awkward rows. A name with a trailing space, a blank cell, a value that isn't in the lookup table.
The awkward rows matter most. XLOOKUP (Excel's lookup formula) returns #N/A when it can't find a value, unless you give it an "if not found" value. "North " with a space doesn't match "North".
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