A writer let Google's Gemini sort his bank statement and found a double charge

A writer at Android Police handed Google's Gemini AI a month of messy bank transactions inside Google Sheets and got back a sorted budget in minutes. Along the way, it flagged two $24.99 gym charges made four days apart as a possible duplicate. That is the kind of mistake that is easy to miss when you track spending by hand.

What Gemini did

The writer, Haroun Adamu, gave Gemini a sample bank export of 42 October transactions. They looked the way banks usually show them, with entries like "POS DEBIT KROGER #6948" and "SQ *JOES CAFE." Gemini sorted them into his 10 existing budget categories.

• Duke Energy went under utilities and Planet Fitness under health and fitness.
• Whole Foods counted as groceries.
• An Amazon purchase and a Venmo payment, which were harder to place, went into "Other."
• A Target return was treated as a refund and subtracted from household spending.

What it found

He then asked for a new tab comparing spending with his budget and marking anything over in red. He had spent $3,440.84 against a $2,830 budget. Most categories were in the red. Groceries led in dollars, at $177.36 over. Household spending led by percentage, at more than double its $90 budget.

The most useful part was the unusual-transaction check. Gemini noticed the two identical $24.99 Planet Fitness charges and suggested checking with the gym. It also noticed he had shopped at four different grocery stores in 72 hours. And it pointed out that his data ended October 22, so he was already over budget with more than a week left in the month.

Charts and dashboards

Gemini also built a chart comparing budget and actual spending for every category. Using a tool called Canvas, it made an interactive dashboard with spending cards, an over-budget alert and a chart that can be sorted by spending or overage. The Build tool makes a simpler dashboard that you cannot interact with.

Limits and cost

• Gemini in Sheets is a paid feature at $20 a month, unless you qualify for Google's free AI Pro for students.
• Canvas works only in the Sheets web app for now, so dashboards do not show on a phone.
• A category with no budget, like "Other," shows as over budget automatically. Give it a small budget.
• The button Gemini added for new expenses only adds one transaction at a time.

The writer says he would rather dump a week or month of bank reports into Sheets and let Gemini sort them. For people who prefer a dedicated app instead, he names Spendee as a good option.