It feels kind of magical to drop an export of bank transaction data into ChatGPT and say “What was the peak balance of this account in years 2021, 2022, and 2023” without my usual faffing about in Excel or an irb console. For bonus points, you can ask it to write Excel or ruby.
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“Why would you care about that?!”

Nov 7, 2023 · 2:54 AM UTC

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I had to fight quite a bit to get the Excel formula working on Excel for Mac, which apparently is a few versions behind what the cool kids use, and after getting frustrated said “I am very sorry for misusing you in this fashion but which of following numbers is highest: *paste*”
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Literally faster that =MAX(…) and trying to get the internal range right, when starting with that range selected.
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*than
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Replying to @patio11
Patrick, I've been reading your stuff for years and I know you're a super-smart guy, but "I used ChatGPT to fill in my report to the government agency dealing with financial crimes" feels like it could only be a response to "so, buddy, what're you in here for?"
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I mean, aesthetics aside, people routinely file FBARs using mental math based on paper account statements. If you think they’re going to so routinely outperform me using ChatGPT on an accounting export followed by a sanity check, that’s a weird bet to make.
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Replying to @patio11
Are you submitting the results to a gov agency without verifying them?
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Replying to @patio11
This whole process is FUBAR