Implementation of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is pervasive throughout the business environment. As utilization of AI grows, machines are becoming more powerful and improving daily. Our company, Pillars and Associates, analyzes artificial intelligence within the workplace and instructs accounting firms on the benefits and consequences of incorporating artificial intelligence in their workspace. Currently, Pinsker Company (PC) has been processing data manually. A slow and tedious process, PC has been searching for more efficient ways to process data through the utilization of artificial intelligence. This document describes the pros, cons, and our personal recommendation of whether PC should incorporate artificial intelligence into its workplace.

Pros

Utilizing artificial intelligence in the workplace leads to greater efficiency and effectiveness. If Pinsker Company utilizes AI, large amounts of data could be processed in a shorter time than manually processing the data. According to a study conducted by Deloitte, AI incorporation could save hundreds of millions of staff hours and billions of dollars annually (Viechnicki & Eggers, 2017). AI tools allow information to be processed and analyzed within minutes.

For instance, Deloitte utilizes robotic process automation that allows auditors to interpret and compile thousands of pieces of data that would have taken several months to a few weeks to analyze otherwise (Schatsky, Muraskin, & Iyengar, 2016). Artificial intelligence also promotes consistent decision-making. Humans inherently have biases and make errors that affect their ability to make accurate decisions. When analyzing and processing data, discrepancies can occur when humans input information incorrectly. AI will read audit reports and configure data to identify errors. Incorporating AI into the accounting processes within Pinsker Company will provide opportunities for biases and errors to be eliminated. This leads to more accurate information being shared and effective tools being employed.

Another benefit of artificial intelligence is the insights machine learning provides about clients. Companies not utilizing machine learning have access to client data; however, they are only utilizing 12% of the data for insights into client needs (Botelho, 2018). These companies find themselves drowning in data and starving for insights (Botelho, 2018). By feeding information into programs like Customer Relationship Management (CRM), companies can gain automatic insights about clients. This improves the utilization of information, allows accountants to become better advisors, and strengthens client relationships.

Cons

Although implementing AI has many benefits, the many ethical concerns, initial costs, and input errors create a dilemma. The risk to personal privacy, security, and social engineering make incorporating artificial intelligence a challenge. No system is safe from security attacks and foreign threats. Utilizing AI can result in security breaches that can affect the client and, ultimately, the company. The hefty cost of incorporating artificial intelligence also poses a problem for the Pinsker Company. The development cost alone of implementing AI would range from $250 million to $500 million (Vandegrift, 2016). PC will have to forego investments to afford the initial costs of incorporating AI. Another potential problem with utilizing AI is human involvement. Problems must be recognized to be solved. Employees must input data into the machine for the information to be processed. If employees do not input correct data, the information will not be presented accurately. According to a recent study, humans make approximately 10 errors when inputting data for every hundred data entries (Sondalini, 2018).

Recommendation

Pinsker Company currently gathers, processes, and interprets data manually. Based on the research conducted, the consultants at Pillars and Associates recommend the incorporation of artificial intelligence in Pinsker Company. The large processing capacity AI employs will provide greater efficiencies within the company and allow accountants to utilize their time in a more efficient manner. The initial expense of implementing AI will be costly; however, the time and money saved in the long run would benefit the company.

To eliminate the ethical dilemma within AI, regulations and accountability will need to be incorporated. AI should have the same requirements and follow the same laws as a human processing the data. AI must not allow biases to occur and information to be manipulated that could affect the privacy or security of the client. Humans provide the information to the machine, therefore humans bear the ultimate responsibility for inputting data into the system. Ethical values should be incorporated into the processing systems of machines to prioritize the safety of the consumer and the fairness of the data. Policies will be implemented to make ethics in AI more transparent; therefore, when the AI system makes an error, consequences would fall on the company rather than the company blaming the algorithm. Our company will continue to analyze and provide further research into the implementation of artificial intelligence in Pinsker Company's accounting system.

Did you like this example?

689

29