Human Eyes

Even as a middle-aged guy, I don’t want to seem full of doom and gloom when looking to the future and speaking to the dangers of new technologies. In fact, I am incredibly impressed by how many things AI can do, do very well, and only see that growing as the technology ages, especially since it is something that can build on itself. I will, however, caution against trusting it too much.

Some people in our industry are touting how bookkeeping is now totally automated because of AI – and that looks very far from the case to me. Again, I think there is space for AI to be very helpful in this type of work. For example, let’s say someone is on a work trip to an area they have not visited before and eats at a local restaurant. It is nice if AI can do a little research in the background first and determine that this was a meal before having to do that Google search ourselves. It’s a small thing, but making little tasks quicker adds up over time.

And the hit rate that AI gets on such moves is good, but not perfect. Even if we say it gets it right 75% of the time, that again may be impressive overall, but would you want a quarter of such transactions entered incorrectly into your bookkeeping? At that point you’re in danger of having books that may be approaching not being useful for meaningful predicting, budgeting, assessment, etc., which is quite a turn from being fully automated.

People trying to sell the fully automated idea makes sense – implement some sort of AI program that does an okay job, get it to people for less money, and you’ve already established your selling proposition. Is there not value, however, in knowing actual eyeballs have gone over your books? If there’s any place in your life where an extra look and a little bonus care can go a long way, your finances must rank high there.

And if you do pay a little extra for that attention, that doesn’t mean they have to eschew Ai completely. I think it’s inevitable that it’s going to find its way into most jobs and make them a little easier. At the same time, too, this opens time for someone to pay more attention to the situation from a different vantage point. Maybe each individual transaction doesn’t need as much attention, so the overall state of your business can receive it instead. I think these type of hybrid relationships are where the real values are going to lie when AI gets firmly established. 

Warmly,

Josh Bousquet
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