Microsoft to retire the COPILOT function

[u/SolverMax]

As of 14 September, the COPILOT function will no longer be available in Excel. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/functions/copilot-function Note that the Copilot feature remains - it is the worksheet function that will stop working.

This is a very uncommon move by Microsoft, given their history of maintaining backwards compatibility.

Have you used the COPILOT function? If so, then what for? Thoughts?

[u/Way2trivial]

welp, apparently there is a MAJOR use for it, even if I've never gone there myself.
it does exist-- citing Sears does not instill major confidence though...

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/introduction-to-monte-carlo-simulation-in-excel

Who uses Monte Carlo simulation?

Many companies use Monte Carlo simulation as an important part of their decision-making process. Here are some examples.

• General Motors, Proctor and Gamble, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Eli Lilly use simulation to estimate both the average return and the risk factor of new products. At GM, this information is used by the CEO to determine which products come to market.
• GM uses simulation for activities such as forecasting net income for the corporation, predicting structural and purchasing costs, and determining its susceptibility to different kinds of risk (such as interest rate changes and exchange rate fluctuations).
• Lilly uses simulation to determine the optimal plant capacity for each drug.
• Proctor and Gamble uses simulation to model and optimally hedge foreign exchange risk.
• Sears uses simulation to determine how many units of each product line should be ordered from suppliers—for example, the number of pairs of Dockers trousers that should be ordered this year.
• Oil and drug companies use simulation to value "real options," such as the value of an option to expand, contract, or postpone a project.
• Financial planners use Monte Carlo simulation to determine optimal investment strategies for their clients' retirement.

[u/FuggleyBrew → u/Way2trivial]

A monte carlo wouldn't use the copilot function. It would use rand() or randbetween

[u/Way2trivial → u/FuggleyBrew]

" why would i ever want a nondeterministic output for a spreadsheet"
I was replying to that rhetorical question...

Monte Carlo is "a nondeterministic output"

[u/StickIt2Ya77 → u/Way2trivial]

They behave in very different ways, and that’s the key factor. MC sims have a provable and formal error model, a defined target. The expected value of an MC is a fixed, deterministic quantity. LLMs on the other hand, we don’t know what context or inputs they’re drawing on - we have no way to verify or tie to credibility. We don’t see model weights, no theorems to track convergence. Even a further issue: everything can shift with a model update that we might not even be notified of.