Python Powers Excel

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Yesterday, Microsoft announced the integration of Python in Excel and this one development is set to transform the way developers have been interacting with the platform until now. It allows users to create comprehensive solutions that seamlessly blend Excel and Python functionalities. Excel users can now leverage Python for advanced analytics tasks such as data visualisation, data cleansing, machine learning, and predictive analytics directly within the platform. By utilising Excel's built-in connectors and Power Query, it becomes straightforward to incorporate external data into Python workflows within Excel. Importantly, this integration maintains compatibility with Excel's familiar tools like formulas, PivotTables, and Excel charts. To offer a complete experience to users, Microsoft also partnered with enterprise Python repository Anaconda, which includes libraries such as pandas, statsmodels, seaborn, and Matplotlib. So far so good. But all these features of Python in Excel can only be accessed through Microsoft 365-connected experience. And this is the biggest issue developers have flagged. They questioned the tech giant’s decision to run it exclusively on Microsoft Cloud when Python could run perfectly well locally. A majority pointed at Microsoft's latest obsession to acquire users for Azure from every corner of the world. In the past few months, Microsoft has been pushing various Azure-based AI projects, especially since the AI rage took over. However, a counter-argument supports the idea that running the Python program with libraries like Scipy and Matplotlib requires heavy computation. To make up for this, Microsoft has integrated it within its cloud services, making it widely available. Python in Excel has definitely integrated both their formulas in a single workbook as developers were earlier using add-ons like pandas read_excel, OpenPyXL, PyXLL and others to bring Python’s functionality to Microsoft’s spreadsheets.  Read the full story here. AI Jobs Flood India The generative AI boom has suddenly given rise to ‘AI experts’ and ‘AI techies’ on LinkedIn as many professionals have added AI skills to their profiles. But the reality is quite different though.  A country with 4.7 million tech professionals faces a significant shortage of AI talent. Currently, 416,000 professionals are engaged in AI and data science, but there's a demand for 213,000 more – a gap expected to widen in the coming years. Job postings for AI roles on platforms like Indeed have increased by 50%, while searches for these positions have skyrocketed by 12,300%, especially in tech-hub Bangalore, which is offering the highest ML salaries. Companies like HyperVerge and IQVIA are offering lucrative salaries for AI experts. Read the full story here. DeepMind Visualises AI Pictures  While the copyright issue continues to snowball with the onslaught of generative AI, Google DeepMind took some time and a very different approach to launch a generative AI image product. The company recently launched ‘Visualising AI’ in a bid to counter misleading depictions of AI in stock imagery and popular culture.  The project involves collaborations with artists to create diverse artworks depicting AI-related themes, including AGI, robotics, neuroscience, sustainability, and generative AI. These images are available for free on stock image sites Unsplash and Pexels. This expansion into visual content is part of a broader trend of tech companies diversifying through strategic partnerships, much like Google's collaboration with Adobe. Read the full story here. China Flexes AI Muscle China has rapidly evolved into a formidable force in the AI sector, challenging the United States despite geopolitical obstacles. China's achievements include matching US developments like Google's Bert with its own Ernie. The nation is also making strides in generative AI with companies like Alibaba releasing products like Tongyi Qianwen.  Besides, China has a strong presence in computer vision, driven by extensive government support for surveillance technology. Not just that, the country is also a leader in AI research, responsible for one-third of global AI research output.  Read more here. TAUSIF ALAM & AMIT RAJA NAIK Thursday, Aug 24, 2023 | Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here DOWNLOAD OUR MOBILE APP Stay Connected info@analyticsindiamag.com © 2023 Analytics India Magazine

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