Spreadsheet knights work hard to preserve Excel’s bragging rights. Gone are the days when knowing VLOOKUP’s search function made you respect it. But the worst may come. Artificial intelligence can completely eliminate the need for spreadsheet skills.
This will drive a cold chill down the spines of the financial data ninja. Usually they complain about “Excel Hell”. But for many, Excel is a happy place for the neatly arranged columns and rows that the messy real world would prefer.
Accounting is among the professions most susceptible to generative AI, according to research From the University of Pennsylvania and OpenAI. The latter is the Microsoft-backed company whose advanced chat software has led to an influx of investments in the sector.
Researchers claim that only a few jobs are resistant to AI. It includes washing dishes and stone.
To date, many AI chatbot experiments have focused on tricks such as writing sonnets. But AI programs may be able to set up financial accounts. Accountants, of course, do many other things. But some of their core activities seem open to automation.
Excel is already grafting AI tools. It announced last month that it would add an artificial intelligence “experimental assistant” to the taskbar of Microsoft 365 apps like Excel, allowing users to ask questions about data in their own language, not formulas.
Microsoft’s revenue growth fell to a six-year low in the most recent quarter as corporate spending tightened. The company is betting that AI integration will spur subscriptions. Overall, AI could drive $200 billion in online spending in the US over three years, according to Morgan Stanley.
Is it game over for spreadsheet professionals? For generative AI to achieve the required comprehensive knowledge, it still has a lot of learning to do. After that, it should give reliable results.
It will be difficult to train AI systems if there are more bans of the kind Italy has imposed on ChatGPT from OpenAI due to privacy concerns. And a group of Silicon Valley stars, including Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, called on artificial intelligence developers to pause experiments for six months.
Microsoft admits that its AI tools are imperfect. There is evidence that ChatGPT fabricates answers rather than admitting ignorance. Generative AI is some way to replace humans in any job. Accountants don’t need to invest in washing gloves or stone chisels just yet.
The Lex Team is interested to hear from our readers. Please let us know what impact you think AI can have on accounting in the comments section below.