Analyzing data with ChatGPT

OpenAI

April 10, 2026

OpenAI Academy

Explore, analyze, and turn data into clear insights and actions in ChatGPT, Excel, or Google Sheets.

ChatGPT can help you move from raw data to useful insights with minimal setup. You can upload a CSV or Excel file directly in ChatGPT, paste in a table, or connect a data source (if supported in your workspace), then start asking questions in plain language. You can also use ChatGPT within Excel and Google Sheets, provided your workspace settings allow it.

Instead of building formulas, pivot tables, or dashboards for every question, you can quickly explore data, clean up tables, generate simple visualizations, and extract key takeaways in a format that’s easy to share. It’s especially useful early in the process—when you’re still figuring out what’s in the data, identifying anomalies, and deciding where to dig deeper. It also helps translate findings into summaries others can review and act on.

Data analysis directly in ChatGPT

1. Start with the decision you’re trying to support. A simple frame is: “I’m trying to decide ___, based on ___.” This tells ChatGPT what “done” looks like and keeps the analysis focused.

2. Provide your data along with any critical context—definitions, timeframe, and what key columns represent. You can provide data via file upload, or by using a connected app.

3. Ask for an approach, not just an answer. or example, request an exploratory data analysis (EDA) summary followed by hypotheses to test. This leads to more structured and reliable results than jumping straight to conclusions.

4. If visuals would help, request them explicitly—what to plot, how to segment, and any must-haves like axis labels or units.

5. Ask for outputs you can reuse such as a clean final table or a short executive summary that translates findings into action.