Office 2016 Insider Update Brings Machine Learning 'Insights' Feature To Excel

 Office Insiders is testing for the first time the AI ​​features that Microsoft recently revealed for Office 365.

Microsoft began implementing a new Insider Fast ring update for Office 2016 for Windows. And although there is not a ton of changes included, the update provides the first glimpse of an Excel function for machine learning that Microsoft joked at a recent event focused on AI.

The feature, called "Insights", is based on machine learning to help find and highlight patterns. This can help identify trends, outliers, and other "useful visualizations," says Microsoft. Excel has also picked up the ability to deselect cells within a selected range. And outside of Excel, Outlook will now load group conversations even faster, says Microsoft. There are no important new features included with this compilation for PowerPoint or Word.

According to Microsoft, Excel Insights will be gradually extended to Office 365 subscribers enrolled in the Insider Fast ring. That means that not everyone will see the function immediately, but it should be open to more people in the coming weeks.