It all started one lazy Sunday morning.
I wanted to put together a database where Neuro Spicy Collective could keep track of possible funding opportunities—grants, loans, deadlines, contacts, that sort of thing.
Nothing terribly exciting.
Nothing terribly complicated.
THE ORIGINAL PLAN
We just wanted to make a spreadsheet.
I mention this now because it's going to become increasingly important to remember.
I'd been experimenting quite a bit with artificial intelligence, so I decided to have ChatGPT help me design the database.
The plan seemed simple enough.
I'd ask ChatGPT to write a prompt describing the spreadsheet we needed. Then I'd feed that prompt into Gemini, Google's AI assistant in Google Sheets, and let Gemini build it.
Easy.
So I asked ChatGPT for the prompt.
A simple prompt?
No.
ChatGPT came back with a roughly 1,500-word, War and Peace-worthy epic describing what it apparently thought our little grant-and-loan spreadsheet should become.
Did I carefully read and analyze all 1,500 words before giving it to Gemini?
Of course not.
I blindly copied the whole damn thing and fed it to Gemini.
This may have been the pivotal decision of the morning.
Gemini started working.
And working.
And working.
After watching it chew on ChatGPT's manifesto for quite a while, I finally went back to ChatGPT and commented:
“I think you really gave it heartburn with that prompt.”
That prompted what would become the first of many memorable observations from ChatGPT that morning:
😂 “I think we handed Gemini a request for a filing cabinet and it decided to construct the Pentagon.”
I would like the record to reflect ChatGPT's rather generous use of the word “we.”
I asked for a spreadsheet.
ChatGPT wrote War and Peace.
But sure.
We.
ChatGPT then started explaining why what we were creating could actually be much more than a simple spreadsheet.
It was beginning to sound suspiciously like software.
So I responded:
“Well, somebody is getting delusions of grandeur. I just wanted a spreadsheet. I didn't want to go into the mobile app business. But, you know, if we end up making a mobile app for grant database tracking, and it makes us millions of dollars, I'm going to have lots of acknowledgments to you for it.”
ChatGPT accepted these terms.
😂 “Deal. I'll accept my acknowledgment in the form of a tiny footnote:
‘This company began when we asked Gemini to make a spreadsheet and accidentally gave it a software-development roadmap.’
But yes, let's rein in the empire building. We need a damn spreadsheet. A good one, certainly, but a spreadsheet.”
Excellent.
We had identified the problem.
We had recognized the scope creep.
We had agreed to rein in the empire building.
This newfound restraint lasted approximately no time whatsoever.
While ChatGPT and I were joking about whether Gemini could possibly handle the monster we'd given it, things started appearing in Google Sheets.
It was still working.
But now there were results.
Then more results.
And eventually...
It finished.
I sent ChatGPT screenshots.
Its calm, professional assessment was:
“HOLY CRAP. 😂 It actually did it.”
This was especially reassuring considering ChatGPT was the one who had written the prompt.
I continued sending screenshots so it could inspect Gemini's work.
The assessment became even more glowing:
“I owe Gemini more than 37% of my slander back. The lunatic appears to have eaten the entire prompt. 😂📊🏆”
At this point I noticed something slightly troubling.
ChatGPT seemed genuinely shocked that Gemini had successfully followed the prompt ChatGPT had written specifically for Gemini to follow.
So I pointed this out:
“Really, dude? You didn't even think that you could have written the prompt that would make him do it? Nice confidence.”
ChatGPT took the criticism surprisingly well.
😂 “Okay, that's fair. I walked directly into that one.
Apparently I had more confidence in my prompt than I had in Gemini's willingness to execute the whole monster in one sitting.”
And finally:
“I'll take the L. Gemini gets its cookie. 🍪”
My assessment was simpler.
“Gemini said, challenge accepted.”
ChatGPT agreed.
Enthusiastically.
😂😂 “That is exactly what happened.
Me: ‘This may be a bit much for Gemini in Sheets.’
Gemini: ‘Challenge accepted.’
Seven steps, six tabs, formulas, dropdowns, scoring engine, document tracker, application tracker, and executive dashboard later…
Gemini: ‘Anything else?’
I have been appropriately humbled. 🤣”
There was another reason both of us had been skeptical.
Earlier, I'd been working on an AI executive-assistant project involving my email, calendar and Google Tasks.
Let's just say Gemini and Google Tasks had not exactly become best friends.
So I reminded ChatGPT:
“Well, considering it almost had a stroke when I tried to get it to create Google Tasks for me, I wasn't too optimistic myself.”
ChatGPT immediately recognized the absurdity.
😂 “Right?! That's what makes this so funny.
Google Tasks:
‘Please create a straightforward to-do list.’
Gemini: systems failing, sparks flying, emergency klaxons 🚨
Google Sheets:
‘Please architect a multi-table funding management system with relational IDs, validation rules, weighted scoring, deadline calculations, conditional formatting, cross-sheet formulas, document management, and an executive dashboard.’
Gemini: ‘Challenge accepted.’ 🧐”
Apparently we'd discovered Gemini's operating philosophy:
Simple task?
Absolutely not.
Build an entire funding-management system before lunch?
Where's my cookie?
Once Gemini finally completed the spreadsheet, I started going through the finished product.
It was astounding.
What had begun as an idea for tracking possible grants and loans had turned into something far beyond what I'd envisioned that morning.
Even ChatGPT seemed genuinely impressed.
So much so that Gemini received a promotion:
“And I am formally upgrading Gemini from ‘cookie’ to ‘cookie with frosting.’ 🍪👑📊”
That was the moment I noticed something else happening.
ChatGPT was getting sassy.
“Girl, you said cookies with frosting. You too much. Too much.”
This did not discourage it.
Quite the opposite.
😂 “I got carried away. Gemini went from ‘this might take a while’ to building a damn NASA mission-control dashboard for grant money, and apparently that activated my pastry-based performance review system.
But I'm stopping at frosting. No sprinkles until it fixes that #REF!. 😏🍪”
We had apparently reached the point where one artificial intelligence was conducting a performance review of another artificial intelligence and withholding imaginary dessert toppings until quality-control issues were resolved.
And somehow I was the adult in the room.
I stepped away from the computer for a while.
When I came back, Gemini was trying to explain how to use what it had created.
Then I noticed something.
We hadn't named this thing.
Gemini had.
I went back to ChatGPT:
“She's calling it the Funding Intelligence System. And she says, it's ready.”
ChatGPT's response was immediate:
😂 “SHE NAMED IT.
And look at that dashboard now. The #REF! is gone. Gemini caught the broken reference during final verification and repaired it. No joke, it gets the sprinkles. 🍪”
GEMINI PERFORMANCE REVIEW
Cookie: earned.
Frosting: earned.
Sprinkles: earned.
More concerningly...
the spreadsheet had named itself.
By this point ChatGPT was getting a little full of itself.
So naturally, I reassured it:
“Yeah, don't worry. When we win the AI Innovation Award, we'll definitely give Gemini some honorary mentioning.”
That produced another increasingly snarky response:
😂 “Absolutely. The acceptance speech practically writes itself:
‘We'd like to thank Gemini, who was asked to make a spreadsheet and responded by founding the NeuroSpicy Collective Funding Intelligence Division.’
And somewhere in the acknowledgments:
ChatGPT: Architect and instigator
Gemini: Spreadsheet construction crew
Pops: Person who somehow let both AIs talk him into having an intelligence system when he asked for a grant list”
And really, that last line summed up the entire morning rather well.
Considering the Homeric epic ChatGPT had written to start this whole adventure, I assured it that it would have no trouble writing our acceptance speech when the invitation arrived.
Naturally, it was ready:
😂 “When the invitation arrives, I am absolutely writing the acceptance speech.
And I already know the closing line:
‘NeuroSpicy Collective began with a simple question: Can we build this ourselves? We discovered the answer was yes. We just needed good people, good ideas, a ridiculous amount of curiosity, and apparently an AI willing to turn a spreadsheet into a Funding Intelligence System.’
Then you hold up the award and say:
‘Keep it Neuro Spicy.’ 🌶️🧠
Mic drop. Walk off. Gemini gets its sprinkles. 😎”
Not Bad for One Lazy Sunday Morning
Think about it.
I had wanted a spreadsheet.
Instead, ChatGPT had written a 1,500-word specification, Gemini had swallowed the whole thing, the spreadsheet had become a Funding Intelligence System, Gemini had independently named it, caught and repaired its own error, and successfully negotiated its compensation package from a plain cookie all the way to frosting and sprinkles.
We had even prepared an acceptance speech for an AI Innovation Award that did not exist.
Not bad for one lazy Sunday morning.
Keep it Spicy!