Artificial intelligence 101
Diving into a new technology
Thomas G. Stephens, Jr., CPA, CITP, CGMA | December/January 2025 Footnote
Without question, artificial intelligence (AI) is the most talked about technology to surface in the past 30 years — and for good reason! AI has the potential to unleash a wave of productivity that business professionals haven’t experienced since the personal computer burst into our lives. Yet, because AI is so new, many professionals fail to recognize how AI can help them.
In this article, you will learn more about AI and how to use this fantastic technology in your organization.
Defining AI
Stated simply, AI is a technology that allows our devices to mimic human behavior. Although different forms of AI exist, the most popular form of AI today is generative AI. Generative AI enables users to issue prompts to the AI platform. In turn, the AI platform responds to the prompt. In that context, AI is similar in some forms to search engines.
However, generative AI differs significantly from search engines in that AI generates a response to each prompt, whereas search engines only provide links to content that might be helpful. In other words, AI delivers responses that are likely more relevant than those provided by search engines.
Further, generative AI tools allow you to create prompts that can solve specific problems. For example, you could issue a prompt asking a generative AI tool to create a loan amortization schedule for a loan with a $100,000 principal, a 10-year term and an annual interest rate of 6%. As you might have guessed, the AI tool generates an amortization schedule specifically in response to that prompt.
Today’s leading players
Many companies have developed AI platforms that today’s professionals — including accounting and financial professionals — will find helpful. Of these tools, Open AI’s ChatGPT is the most popular. You can subscribe to ChatGPT for no charge or opt for a paid subscription ($20 per month) that provides faster responses, more up-to-date information and advanced data analysis features, among other traits.
Google’s Gemini platform is similar to ChatGPT in many aspects, including capabilities and pricing. Further, if you use other Google services and opt for a paid subscription to Gemini, you will benefit from the integration between Gemini and other tools in the Google ecosystem.
Microsoft’s Copilot platform offers users access to AI without needing to establish an account or to subscribe. With Copilot, you can access your AI engine directly from Microsoft’s Edge browser. If you have a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription, you can opt for Copilot’s paid platform that offers deep integration into Excel, Word, PowerPoint and other tools. For instance, you can use Copilot to create a PowerPoint presentation based on an existing Word or PDF document.
In addition to the three platforms listed above, other fantastic tools are available, such as Claude.ai, Jasper AI and Midjourney, among many others. Although these tools are great, remember that they are all first-generation tools that will only improve over time.
Applied examples of AI
If you have not yet explored today’s generative AI tools, you might wonder how they might be helpful to you in everyday business situations. Consider the following three examples:
- Suppose you need guidance on implementing a new accounting or auditing standard. You can use an AI tool to issue a prompt such as, “Explain the new lease accounting standard and provide an example of the financial statement footnote required for a five-year lease with a principal balance of $100,000 and a term of five years.”
- Perhaps you need to generate a memo to your clients to update them on new tax law developments that will likely affect businesses. Consider using a prompt like, “Create a memo on tax law changes likely to affect businesses this year.”
- Suppose you have a Copilot subscription and must create a PowerPoint presentation to educate your audience about cybersecurity risks. Prompting Copilot to “create a presentation on cybersecurity risks” will cause Copilot to create the first draft of such a presentation.
Two significant AI risks
It’s crucial to remember that as useful as AI is, it makes mistakes, it is imperfect and it comes with new risks. To mitigate these risks, we suggest using the following practices.
- When using AI for research, verify the results you receive. You can do this by issuing the same prompt to multiple AI platforms. If you do so and receive similar results, you can likely be assured that the response is reasonably accurate. If you receive substantially different responses, you should carefully check to see which response — if any — is correct. You may also want to ask the AI engine to cite references and sources as part of your prompt.
- Many AI engines “harvest” your data. Like most search engines, some AI tools capture and potentially expose your data to others. Thus, you should never upload anything to AI that is personally identifiable to you, a client or your employing organization. Exceptions to this rule include situations where you have confirmed with the AI platform that it does not harvest your data and when you have redacted or scrubbed all private and sensitive data before uploading it. Above all, do not assume that prompts you issue or data you upload will remain private and secure.
A whole new world of technology
It’s been quite a while since we have seen a new technology as promising as AI. Properly used, AI can be a tremendous timesaver and allow us to focus on value-added tasks. It can also free us from rote, repetitive tasks that we don’t enjoy performing.
However, like with all technology, AI potentially introduces some risk elements. Therefore, follow security and privacy best practices and stay alert when working with AI tools. If you do, you will get all the benefits of AI while simultaneously mitigating risks. Happy computing!
Tommy Stephens is one of the shareholders of K2 Enterprises. He focuses on creating and delivering content and is responsible for many Firm management and marketing functions. You may reach him at tommy@k2e.com, and you may learn more about K2 Enterprises at www.k2e.com.
