Field note
Spreadsheet prompt injection risk
AI spreadsheet review can read instructions hidden in cells or notes. Treat untrusted workbooks as inputs that need boundaries.
Finance teams often receive spreadsheets from suppliers, customers and partners. If an AI tool reads the workbook, hidden instructions or misleading notes can shape the answer. The safe stance is to treat external spreadsheets as untrusted input.
Practical SME workflow
Use an invoice exception review workflow with a clean intake step. Strip irrelevant tabs, keep source files separate and ask AI to inspect data fields only. Supplier wording and payment actions stay with finance.
Risk and control
Use a copy of the workbook, keep the original, and ask for cited cells or source references where the tool supports them. Do not let generated instructions inside the sheet override your own policy, approval route or data boundary.