OpenAI is rolling out significant improvements to data analysis in ChatGPT, making the tool more robust and user-friendly for ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Enterprise users. The new features, available with the flagship model GPT-4o, allow users to add files directly from Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive and interact with tables and charts.
The ability to add files directly from Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive eliminates the need to download files to a user’s desktop before uploading them to ChatGPT. This feature allows ChatGPT to quickly understand Google Sheets, Docs, and Slides files as well as Microsoft Office Suite files like Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
Interactive tables allow users to expand and explore data in real time, with the ability to ask follow-up questions and receive suggested prompts to deepen their analysis. For example, users can ask ChatGPT to combine spreadsheets of monthly expenses and create a pivot table categorized by expense type.
Customisable charts enable users to interact with various chart types, including bar, line, pie, and scatter plots. Users can hover over chart elements, ask additional questions, and select colours before downloading the charts for presentations or documents.
For instance, users can select a Google Sheet with their company’s latest user data directly from Google Drive and ask ChatGPT to create a chart showing retention rates by cohort.
These updates build on ChatGPT’s existing ability to understand and analyse datasets through natural language. Users can upload data files and have ChatGPT write and run Python code to perform tasks like merging datasets, creating charts, and uncovering insights. This capability makes it easier for beginners to conduct in-depth analyses and saves experts time on routine tasks.
Carlyle Group VP David Vaughn highlighted the tool’s impact, stating, “ChatGPT is part of my toolkit for analyzing customer data, which has become too large and complex for Excel. It helps me sift through massive datasets, allowing me to conduct more data exploration on my own and reduce the time it takes to reach valuable insights.”
OpenAI emphasizes comprehensive security and privacy in these updates. ChatGPT does not train on data from Team and Enterprise customers, and Plus users can opt out of training through Data Controls. OpenAI’s privacy and security policies include SAML SSO, compliance, and data encryption for ChatGPT Enterprise.
Afterpay marketing manager Lauren Nowak praised the new features, saying, “ChatGPT walks me through data analysis and helps me better understand insights. It makes my job more fulfilling, helps me learn, and frees up my time to focus on more strategic parts of my job.”
Similarly, Google also announced new features of Gemini at Google I/O 2024. Gemini not only analyses the data from the sheet but also creates a nice visual to help users see the complete breakdown by category. This extends to various use cases in your inbox, like travel expenses, shopping, and remodelling projects.
All of that information in Gmail can be put to good use, helping you work, plan, and play better. This ability to organise your attachments in Drive, generate a sheet, and do data analysis via Q&A will be rolling out to Labs users this September.
