Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini can be a big help when dealing with data in spreadsheets. In this third of a series of posts from a workshop at the Centre for Investigative Journalism Summer School (the first part covered idea generation; the second research), I outline tips and techniques for using those tools to help with spreadsheet formulae and reshaping data.

Whether you come across data as part of story research, or compile data yourself, chances are that at some point you will need to write a formula to ask questions of that data, or make it possible to ask questions (such as creating a column which extracts data from another).

If you find yourself coming up against the limits of your spreadsheet knowledge, then genAI tools can be useful both in breaking through those — while expanding your knowledge of functions and formula writing.

Writing spreadsheet formulae with ChatGPT or other genAI tools

In the second of a series of posts from a workshop at the Centre for Investigative Journalism Summer School (read the first part on idea generation here), I look at using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini to improve sourcing and story research.

Research is arguably the second-highest risk area (after content generation) for using generative AI within journalism. The most obvious reason for this is AI’s ability to make things up (“hallucinate“) — but there are other reasons too.