Overview
On May 13, 2024, Tax Notes quoted Caitlin Tharp and Don Sternfeld in an article titled "Tax Professionals Embrace Generative AI Despite Pitfalls." The article discusses the increasing adoption of generative AI in the tax industry, along with the potential challenges it presents. AI can be a helpful tool in that it frees up time spent on more mundane tasks and allots professionals with more time for direct client work. However, Tharp warns about the risk of AI generating false information, stating, "As long as generative AI still has problems with hallucinations, then we can't fully trust the outputs that are given." This emphasizes the need for careful review and validation of AI outputs before use.
Sternfeld, Steptoe’s Chief Innovation Officer, discusses Steptoe's approach to safely integrating AI into its operations. He explains, "Steptoe employees are trained not to use ChatGPT for research, and to instead use it for tasks like translations and summarizations." The firm uses a version of OpenAI, called SteptoeGPT, which doesn't connect to the internet for prompts, mitigating some of the privacy concerns associated with AI use.
Read the full article at Tax Notes (subscription may be required).
