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28. Copilot and AI in Excel

28.7 Verify AI Output: A Checklist and Recomputing with Formulas

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Example first. Shraddha asks Copilot for a Pune summary and pastes the reply into her email: "Pune sales are ₹544, average delivery 11 minutes, 3 orders." Her manager replies: "Net sales for Pune were ₹324. Where is 544 from?" Both numbers are real. ₹544 includes a cancelled order; ₹324 is Delivered only. And "3 orders" is simply wrong: Pune has 4 orders, 3 of them Delivered. This lesson is the habit that would have caught all three in two minutes.

Verifying AI output — in 30 seconds

What: Verifying means recomputing every number an AI gives you with your own formula, checking which rows and definitions it used, and reading the formulas it wrote.

Why: AI replies are fluent and confident even when the scope or a count is wrong. Microsoft itself says Copilot can make mistakes and asks you to review and verify everything before you rely on it.

Tiny example: Claim "Pune has 3 orders". Check =COUNTIFS(tblOrders[City],"Pune") returns 4, so the claim is wrong.

First look at the data (before → after):

Verifying AI output: before and after tables, fictional Blinkit Maharashtra data

Expected result — After checking

# Verdict Your formula result
1 Depends on scope 544 all / 324 Delivered
2 Correct 11
3 Wrong 4
Before table and formula as text

Before — Copilot's Pune summary (illustrative)

# Claim
1 Pune sales are ₹544.
2 Pune's average delivery time is 11 minutes.
3 Pune has 3 orders.

Formula / click path

For each claim: write the formula yourself
SUMIFS / AVERAGEIFS / COUNTIFS on tblOrders
Compare, then ask Copilot about any difference

Do it step by step:

  1. Copy Copilot's reply into a checking area (or a Checks sheet), one claim per row.
  2. Next to each claim write your own formula, for example =COUNTIFS(tblOrders[City],"Pune").
  3. Compare. Mark each claim Correct, Wrong or Depends on scope.
  4. For every difference, ask Copilot: Which rows did you include? Which formula did you use?
  5. Fix the definition in the prompt (for example Delivered only) and ask again.
  6. Only numbers marked Correct go into the email or the report.

Claim by claim

Copilot claim (illustrative) Verdict How we know
Pune sales are ₹544. Depends on the question All statuses: =SUMIFS(tblOrders[Amount],tblOrders[City],"Pune") = 544. Delivered only: add ,tblOrders[Status],"Delivered" = 324.
Pune's average delivery time is 11 minutes. Correct =AVERAGEIFS(tblOrders[Mins],tblOrders[City],"Pune") = 11 (9, 14, 8, 13).
Pune has 3 orders. Wrong =COUNTIFS(tblOrders[City],"Pune") = 4. Three are Delivered; the fourth (BLK-1009) was Cancelled.

The 10-point AI output checklist

# Check Quick way
1 Row count: did it use all the rows? =ROWS(tblOrders) = 10; ask "How many rows did you use?"
2 Scope: which filter did it apply? Ask "Which statuses did you include?"
3 Totals tie out Parts must add to =SUM(tblOrders[Amount]) = 2870
4 Recompute each key number SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, AVERAGEIFS, MAXIFS on the Table
5 Read the formulas it wrote Ctrl+` to show formulas; Formulas › Evaluate Formula
6 Same formula in every row Click the first, a middle and the last row
7 Blanks and text numbers A blank or text "450" changes COUNT and SUM silently
8 Units and rounding ₹ vs lakh; 12.8 vs 13; % of orders vs % of Amount
9 Spot-check three rows by hand Pick the largest, the smallest and one at random
10 Web facts have a source you opened Click the citation; do not trust a number without one

Three ways AI numbers go wrong (and what to ask)

  1. Wrong scope. It answered a slightly different question: all orders instead of Delivered, all platforms instead of Blinkit. Ask: "Which rows did you include?"
  2. Wrong count. It skipped a row, counted the header, or counted a blank. Ask: "List the Order IDs you counted."
  3. Invented detail. A sentence such as "Pune grew 12% over last month" when there is no last month in the data. Ask: "Which cells does this come from?" If the answer is none, delete the sentence.

Recompute with formulas: the full Pune check block

K2: =SUMIFS(tblOrders[Amount],tblOrders[City],"Pune")                              → 544
K3: =SUMIFS(tblOrders[Amount],tblOrders[City],"Pune",tblOrders[Status],"Delivered") → 324
K4: =COUNTIFS(tblOrders[City],"Pune")                                              → 4
K5: =AVERAGEIFS(tblOrders[Mins],tblOrders[City],"Pune")                            → 11
K6: =MAXIFS(tblOrders[Amount],tblOrders[City],"Pune")                              → 220

Microsoft's own warning, in plain words. Copilot uses AI and can make mistakes, misread information or give inaccurate results; Microsoft advises not to use it for decisions in sensitive areas such as finance, legal or medical topics, and to review, edit and verify anything it creates. A monthly sales number is exactly the kind of figure someone will make a decision on, so it gets checked.

Microsoft sources (checked 7 October 2026): Frequently asked questions about Copilot in Excel.

Practice task (try it before you open the answer):

  1. Copilot says: "Nashik has 2 orders worth ₹360, average 14.5 minutes."
  2. Check all three parts with formulas.
  3. Say which parts are correct.
Answer
  1. =COUNTIFS(tblOrders[City],"Nashik") = 2.
  2. =SUMIFS(tblOrders[Amount],tblOrders[City],"Nashik") = 360.
  3. =AVERAGEIFS(tblOrders[Mins],tblOrders[City],"Nashik") = 14.5 (12 and 17). All three parts are correct.

Ravindra Bagale's Tip

Never paste an AI number into an email without its formula next to it in your file. If you cannot point to the formula, you cannot defend the number.