Stay Up-to-Date on Humanistic Artificial Intelligence! August Edition
TD Publishing’s Monthly Update on Artificial Intelligence.
TD Publishing, a company that provides artificial intelligence educational programs, offers a monthly newsletter sharing the latest advancements in artificial intelligence to keep non-tech professionals and students up-to-date. Below is the August edition, written by Craig Gordon, founder of Don’t Count Us Out Yet and co-founder of TD Publishing.
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The Artificial Intelligence Community Has Now Split Into Two Factions Regarding How AI Might Develop.
In the past two monthly editions of our newsletter, we have talked about the factions in AI development. One group continues to state that AI is moving ahead quicker and quicker, while another group states that large language models (LLMs) have significant flaws that can’t be fixed without a new approach. To read our thoughts and latest updates regarding this debate, check out our recent two newsletter editions below.
As we aim to make sense of all this news, here are a few questions we think will help CPAs figure out where we are in relation to AI today.
Question One: Are the artificial intelligence models from companies such as Google, OpenAI, Meta, Mistral AI, Anthropic and more, capable of creating AI agents that can act without human supervision by improving their current skills?
Our Answer: Probably not, and this is because of the one critical factor humans have in creating intelligence. In this process, we transition from data to information to intelligence. AI does not have this transition, as it just analyzes data and makes intelligent answers. This prevents AI LLM processes from creating solutions for new problems that surface, where there is no previous data to rely on. For example, what does a driverless car do when a flying saucer lands in front of it? Assuming this has never happened, there is no accurate data for an LLM to create an answer and make the right decision.
Question Two: Does that mean AI solutions for most business and CPA issues are worthless right now and shouldn't be used?
Our Answer: Not necessarily… It just means you are never going to get a 100 percent correct answer from an LLM process. Therefore, in some manner, shape or form, AI agents will have to figure out issues they can’t answer and alert humans, which is not currently being done. The idea that LLM agents can become humanlike (general artificial intelligence) is probably not going to happen with the current LLM models in place. As we have stated before, new approaches will be needed.
Question Three: Will LLM models ever advance with incremental breakthroughs to the point where they can become humanlike?
Our Answer: This is the key factor both opposing sides disagree on. On one side, championed by Open AI and the larger companies, they argue yes and state they are working on it. On the other side, there are two types of thoughts. One thought is championed by some open-system models, such as the Meta LLM, that want to allow everyone to change the processes involved to solve their problems. Others say the problem can't be solved this way, and we are headed for an AI winter unless a new type of thinking beyond LLMs is created.
Question Four: What are my next steps as a CPA in terms of learning or using artificial intelligence?
Our Answer: We think AI is here to stay and going to become a bigger and bigger tool for CPAs to use in the future as new applications will be released very rapidly. CPAs must understand the fundamentals of AI, including the definition of intelligence, the strengths and weaknesses in using AI, where it might be useful, and where it might not be advisable to use currently.
We teach an unbiased course for CPAs to understand the fundamentals of AI while earning CPE credits. This might be a good start if you are looking for an interactive and informational way to learn. If you are looking for another way to get started, there are some very useful, easy-to-understand books you can read. At the top of the list, we recommend “Co-Intelligence” by Ethan Mollick.
However you decide to stay up-to-date right now, it’s important to understand that we are past the stage of artificial intelligence just being a concept. We are in the stage where CPAs who understand AI and where it can be applied now are at a competitive advantage over those who don’t. Soon we will be at the stage where any CPA without AI understanding will be at a competitive disadvantage.
Now let’s discuss a few recent developments in AI that might be useful to CPAs…
What are AI agents and how can CPAs use them?
Recently, we added the concept of AI agents, including ways they could be used, to our CPA continuing education course. Basically, while chatbots are designed to answer questions the right way, AI agents are designed to increase productivity and complete tasks.
If successful, AI agents could be a huge leap of progress for using AI in the business world. Imagine CPAs training AI agents to complete tasks for taxes and auditing purposes or helping examine financial projections. Again, as mentioned above, agents will not be 100 percent as accurate as humans, but they can make CPAs much more productive in day-to-day repetitive processes. AI agents are worth examining right now for any CPA who wants a competitive advantage.
Imagine having one billion synthetic customers of your client’s companies to ask questions… Well, that is now a reality.
In our past newsletter editions, we’ve talked about what synthetic data is and how rapid advances are making it useful for CPAs and their client's businesses, as well as actual data. Here is a quick summary piece of what synthetic data is and recent advances, including why everyone is so excited about NVIDIA’s new chip design.
However, what really caught our attention is the announcement from some Chinese AI experts that they have created a synthetic data base of 13 percent of the world’s population! This by itself is probably not something CPAs can utilize, but we would bet that one of the major big four accounting firms or large consulting companies will be able to create a synthetic data base very soon of all customers for business clients. Again, CPAs that use this first will have a competitive advantage.
Have a great rest of your summer! Stay cool and safe.
My very best, Craig Gordon and the TD Publishing Crew