I Tried to Get AI to Read My Reports — and Wasted My Weekend

AI has made promises. Big ones. If you’ve ever watched a keynote or demo, you’ve likely heard some version of: “Just give it your data—and watch the magic happen.”

As a business operator who works with data daily, I decided to test that idea the hard way: could I use GPT to create consistent, integrated operational reports across multiple store locations…without a formal data layer?

Quick answer: No. And I lost my weekend learning why.

My goal seemed straightforward:

- Aggregate daily data from two QSR locations

- Layer in key operational metrics—sales, labor, task completion

- Generate daily summaries that could guide decision-making

Simple, right? Copy, paste, prompt. But almost immediately, I ran into problems.

To produce a meaningful report, I had to first normalize and structure all my raw data—line by line. GPT couldn’t make sense of inconsistent formats, column names, or missing context. Each session became a battle to re-explain the full picture.

Even after…