Everyone has been making claims about Artificial Intelligence lately, so it was nice to see the FTC put out a warning to firms who oversell their Artificial Intelligence capability. I wanted to add my thoughts. 

So many people are wondering about AI in accounting and are rightly asking, “Is my job safe”? The uncomfortable answer is “maybe”. 

AI is here to stay, and it’s going to change your life and my life. AI is getting better and better at delivering tasks that are high volume and repetitive. It’s going to absolutely do away with the need for accountants to do process-driven bookkeeping tasks. And generative AI systems like ChatGPT will start eating away at higher-value accounting tasks like preparing financial reports.

What AI can’t do is form meaningful relationships with your customers. For that, you need a deep understanding of your client’s specific business challenges, plus a healthy dose of human skills like compassion, empathy, and charisma to sell to clients. Ultimately that’s where you deliver value, and value is something your customers will continue to pay for.