OpenAI Reportedly Working on ChatGPT Support for Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint-Compatible Files

OpenAI is reportedly developing new productivity tools for ChatGPT that could reduce users' reliance on Microsoft's Excel and PowerPoint. As per the report, the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) firm is working on adding support for Microsoft's spreadsheet and presentation file formats, so users can both create and edit these files directly within the chatbot's interface. Separately, the company is reportedly also building an AI agent that can collect public or corporate data to create comprehensive reports. Notably, another report has claimed that OpenAI is also working on developing an AI-powered web browser.

ChatGPT Could Soon Let Users Edit Excel and PowerPoint Files

If you're among those who use ChatGPT for their productivity needs, you would already know that the AI chatbot is capable of generating plain-text spreadsheets and presentations. These can also be opened in the Canvas mode, allowing users to edit these files themselves or ask the AI to make inline changes.

Alternatively, users can also ask ChatGPT to generate an Excel (.xlsx) or PowerPoint (.pptx) file directly, which can be downloaded and opened via the respective application. However, users cannot open these files within the chatbot's interface or create a new sheet within Canvas. So the existing workaround is to create the basics of the file as plain text, then convert it to an Excel or PowerPoint file and download it.

But that also brings its set of challenges. Since these are plain text files, ChatGPT cannot add functions in Excel or add any visual elements or animations in PowerPoint. According to The Information, OpenAI is now planning to eliminate this gap. Citing an unnamed source who has used the new feature, the publication claimed that the AI firm has developed support for xlxs and pptx file formats natively within ChatGPT.

Building this capability does not break any copyright laws either, since Microsoft has open-sourced these file formats. While the report did not mention any release data for these features, it highlighted that these could reduce users' reliance on Microsoft's Office apps.

Separately, the report claims that OpenAI is also working on an AI agent for ChatGPT that can create reports (like in xlsx and pptx formats) based on either public data or external data that has access to (corporate data, uploaded files, connectors, etc). There's no word on its release date either.