Build a spreadsheet tool someone actually uses
Half of every office runs on spreadsheets built by "the person who’s good with Excel". Become that person: build a working Google Sheets tool with AI as your formula coach — real formulas, validation, and a real user.
Posted by The AI Internships
The work brief
- 01Pick a real tracking problem someone near you has (class rep tracking fees, family budget, club attendance).
- 02Build it in Google Sheets: input area, automatic calculations, data validation dropdowns, and a summary with conditional formatting — ask AI to draft the SUMIF/VLOOKUP/QUERY formulas, then test each one on tricky cases yourself.
- 03Give it to the real user with real (or realistic) data and watch them use it. Fix what confused them.
- 04Share it with a public view link.
What you’ll produce
Submission standard
Submit the public sheet link, the problem + user, your formula explanations, and what changed after the real user tried it. Include your AI workflow — tools, best prompts, and what you changed. Attach proof of the real user session — their feedback message, a photo, or the sheet's version history — tied to a named person.
The problem and the real person who has it
Short answerRequiredPublic view link to your working sheet
Public view link to YOUR working sheet — formulas and validation must actually run (not values pasted as text).
Public linkRequiredYour 3 most important formulas, explained in your own words
Written responseRequiredWhat the real user did, what confused them, what you fixed
Name the real person, what they did, what confused them, and exactly what you changed as a result.
Written responseRequired
You’ll complete these inside your private workspace.
What you must submit as proof
This brief requires evidence an AI can’t fabricate.
Proof of the real user session: the sheet’s version history showing their edits, a dated feedback message, or a photo of them using it
The sheet’s version history or their dated feedback message is the best proof. Describe them by role, not name ("my uncle who runs the shop"), and blur names, faces, and numbers in whatever you upload.
Image uploadRequired
Submissions without this evidence cannot be submitted.
Protect other people in your proof. Blur faces, names, phone numbers and email addresses before you upload, and refer to anyone you worked with by role or number ("Listener 1", "the stall owner"). Your proof is only ever used to check your work — it is never published, never appears on your certificate, and is never shown in your public portfolio.
How your work is evaluated
The passing benchmark is 70/100.
Working tool
29%The shared sheet opens and its formulas/validation genuinely work.
Formula understanding
29%Explanations show they understand the formulas, not just pasted them.
Real user iteration
14%A real person used it and the tool improved because of it.
Real user, real iteration
29%Evidence must show a specific real person actually used the tool and it changed as a result (version history, a dated feedback message, or a photo). A generic 'my friend tried it' with no artifact is a fail; identifying that person by role rather than by name is expected, not a shortfall.
How we grade your AI usage
Using AI is the point — it’s the skill this certificate proves. You’ll answer three short questions about how you used it: what you asked, what was wrong with its first answer, and what you changed. Specific, honest answers score high. “I pasted the brief and submitted the answer” scores near zero.