CFOs are bullish on ChatGPT – how much can companies trust AI to handle?

The hottest “conversational AI tool” – OpenAI’s ChatGPT – is spurring CFOs to learn more about the burgeoning technology and determine whether to utilize it.

For example, GenCFO polled LinkedIn members on whether ChatGPT has a place in accounting and finance. Sixty-five percent of respondents voted Yes, 25% said “let’s see” while only 9% said No.

Interestingly ChatGPT doesn’t see itself as a replacement for automation software. GenCFO asked ChatGPT if it would replace invoice automation.

Answer: ChatGPT, as a language model developed by OpenAI, is not designed to replace invoice automation. Instead, it is designed to assist and provide information to users. Invoice automation is a technology solution that automates the process of generating, sending, and tracking invoices to improve efficiency and accuracy. ChatGPT can provide information about invoice automation and other related topics, but it is not a replacement for the actual software.

CFOs want ChatGPT for planning & analysis

Hanover Research surveyed financial directors and managers on a number of tech topics, including if and how they expect to utilize ChatGPT.

The top choices:

• financial planning and analysis (47% of CFOs)
• cybersecurity and privacy (44%)
• administrative tasks (36%)
• financial reporting (34%)
• cross or inter departmental communication (29%)
• accounting (29%), and
• forecasting (28%).

Just 6% of financial chiefs said they don’t believe ChatGPT will be of use to their financial teams in the near future.

The red flags to know ahead of time

Gartner reports that 45% of business execs are planning to implement AI tools within the next year. ChatGPT is at or near the top of many CFOs’ conversational AI programs to test.

Be careful: there are quite a few bugs in the system that any finance department needs to consider first. ChatGPT has its limitations, as Gartner notes:

• ChatGPT is unfamiliar with data before September 2021 (though it’s catching up) 
• you can’t “train” ChatGPT on your knowledge
• its math skills are unreliable, and
• it can’t cite sources and will often make up sources.

As to that critical last point – making up sources – the American Accounting Association (AAA) compared how students answered thousands of questions on accounting assessments and textbook tests with ChatGPT.

The result was a bloodbath: Flesh-and-blood accounting students scored a 76. ChatGPT flunked with a 56. Even worse, ChatGPT made up facts and regurgitated studies and authors that didn’t exist.