ChatGPT fails when it comes to accounting, finds major study

AI chatbot ChatGPT is still no match for humans when it comes to accounting and while it is a game changer in several fields, the researchers say the AI still has work to do in the realm of accounting. Microsoft-backed OpenAI has launched its newest AI chatbot product, GPT-4 which uses machine learning to generate natural language text, passed the bar exam with a score in the 90th percentile, passed 13 of 15 advanced placement (AP) exams and got a nearly perfect score on the GRE Verbal test. “It’s not perfect; you’re not going to be using it for everything,” said Jessica Wood, currently a freshman at Brigham Young University (BYU) in the US. “Trying to learn solely by using ChatGPT is a fool’s errand.” Researchers at BYU and 186 other universities wanted to know how OpenAI’s tech would fare on accounting exams. They put the original version, ChatGPT, to the test. “We’re trying to focus on what we can do with this technology now that we couldn’t do before to improve the teaching process for faculty and the learning process for students. Testing it out was eye-opening,” said lead study author David Wood, a BYU professor of accounting. Although ChatGPT’s performance was impressive, the students performed better.