ENGAGE road trip: Simple directions for a smooth AI journey

While generative AI is moving forward at breakneck speed, it’s not that difficult for AI newcomers to quickly get up to speed and start harnessing the horsepower.

“Generative AI is like a car. It is getting better, more efficient, and more feature-rich,” tech expert Wesley Hartman said. “But if you look at cars over time, they still have pedals and a steering wheel. Generative AI, it’s still pedals and a steering wheel.”

Hartman, founder of Automata Practice Development, co-hosted one of several hands-on workshops Monday morning that jump-started the AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE 25 conference in Las Vegas. Back together with Fresh FP&A CEO Chris Ortega, and this year joined by John Higgins, CPA/CITP, of Higgins Advisory LLC, Hartman welcomed more than 500 conference attendees to “Fingers on the Keyboard V2: ChatGPT, Copilot, and AI Round Up.”

A lot has changed since Hartman’s generative AI workshop last year. However …

“Generative AI has gotten better as a whole, but I think in the accounting space, it is still in its infancy,” said Hartman, who co-authors the monthly Technology Q&A column in the Journal of Accountancy. “Some of the examples we’re using are the same as last year, but AI’s responses are better and more tailored to the user based on what AI has learned.

“While things are changing in the background constantly, I use this workshop to get people comfortable with AI. I want to be the driving instructor in the passenger seat with the extra wheel, guiding first-time drivers as they learn how far to press each pedal and turn the wheel.”

When it comes to AI, it’s pedal to the metal at ENGAGE. Technology represents one of 10 tracks at the conference, yet of the 56 sessions offered to attendees before lunch on Tuesday, more than a third reference emerging technologies in their descriptions.

Later in the month, after ENGAGE wraps Thursday, most sessions will be available for viewing online.

“Generative AI is very accessible, and the goal of the workshop is to break down any barriers into this technology,” Hartman said. “I start every workshop with ‘how to write an email’ because everyone does it and most people consider it a chore. This becomes a baseline of knowledge we can build from. Then we move into tasks like ‘help me build a job posting’ and ‘summarize this document and look for key points around a given topic.’

“From there, individual users will discover what is possible and the benefits they can draw from it.”

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Bryan Strickland at Bryan.Strickland@aicpa-cima.com.