In a slightly concerning event, a recent survey of accountants revealed that 85% were excited or intrigued about artificial intelligence.
I have no concerns about artificial intelligence in our industry – in fact I welcome and embrace AI. I am however worried at this sudden increase in excitement levels and whether accountants have the capacity to cope with such emotions.
Accountants are not designed for open exhibitions of animated enthusiasm. Wearing casual clothes to work on the weekend is about the peak of our propensity for excitement.
But in a slightly suspect move, the researcher was clever enough to group “excited” and “intrigued” together for the greater good of the results. My guess is that intrigued was the dominant reaction.
According to the survey, 63% of accounting professionals use AI to compose emails and fine tune their writing tone, and about 40% use AI to automate workflows and transcribe meetings. And they are most excited (or intrigued) about AI’s capacity to increase speed and efficiency, reduce errors, automate tasks, cut costs and enhance communications.
As a consumer you may or may not like the idea of AI infiltrating businesses, potentially limiting human interaction. But like it or not, you are probably already using AI on a daily basis.
Consumers unknowingly use AI daily through smartphone assistants, spam filters, streaming recommendations, search engines, social media feeds, online shopping, fraud detection, navigation apps, chatbots, and predictive text, enhancing convenience and personalisation.
By the way, ChatGPT wrote the paragraph above. I asked it for a 30-word summary of how consumers unknowingly use AI every day.
AI in accounting, and indeed in most industries is not a choice, it is a necessity. AI is evolving at an extraordinary pace, whether we are ready or not. It is already built into much of the software that we use. Businesses that resist AI will get left behind very quickly.
The firms leading AI adoption aren’t necessarily more tech-savvy than their competitors, they just take a different approach. They introduce it in small chunks, test the results and expand it once proven.
They should also be acutely aware of AI’s limitations and ability to make mistakes. Just last year lawyers for a man suing an airline for personal injury (struck by a serving cart, no less) were caught citing non-existent legal cases despite ChatGPT assuring them the cases were real. Awkward!
To conclude this article, I asked ChatGPT if accountants were unexciting. It’s response – “Not at all! Modern accountants are strategic, tech-savvy professionals using AI for financial forecasting, fraud detection, and business consulting. They work in diverse industries, making high-impact decisions beyond routine tasks. Accounting is far from boring!”
If nothing else I’m excited at AI’s flair for diplomacy.
by MARK DOUGLAS
FCPA
Managing Partner of Francis A Jones
www.faj.com.au