The Future of Taxes: How ChatGPT4 Could Change the Game
Did taxes just get easier?
I hope so.
No it's not Congress simplifying tax law. For the most part, politicians continue to increase tax law complexity.
I'm talking about ChatGPT4 which was announced this week via a demonstration of it performing well at a simple tax liability calculation.
While I'm not an AI expert, I DO hang out with some super smart folks in tax who are developing & implementing various AI-based tax tools. I'm excited to see what’s rolled out industry-wide in the upcoming months and years.
How might this impact the public? What could this mean for how YOU interact with taxes?
My predictions:
Faster answers, no doubt. Less waiting on another human’s schedule.
Less expensive answers, most likely. Direct or indirect access to an AI subscription will likely be more affordable than working 1:1 with any tax professional I know.
How about ACCURACY? Will chatting with a ‘tax bot” result in more or less accurate answers than chatting with a tax professional? I’m really not sure. For now I would be cautious, but in a few months? And for those who can't access a tax pro at all due to lack of funds or the decreasing number of tax pros, it may be better to be somewhat close than have no idea at all.
I would ♥ for folks with straightforward tax situations to get reliable answers from CGPT4 as to whether they'll owe or how big their refund will be. Feed your paystub + details on your tax situation to AI and it gives you the number. This would GREATLY reduce nationwide ‘tax time’ confusion.
Possibly less concern over new tax law changes. No waiting for tax pros and commentators to take weeks and months to synthesize new info and how it might impact you. You can feed your situation to AI and ask.
Quick fact check on all the hype for tax structures that are either outright shams or simply not suitable for everyone. TikTok tax scammers are about to have a much harder time.
Tax pros are saved for the reaaaally hard stuff that maybe AI in its current state isn't well suited for. E.g., digging deep to truly understand an issue, providing background knowledge necessary to understanding AI’s answer, understanding where AI’s answer may not be accurate or complete, understanding the emotions & positions of all players involved in a decision, etc.
I can see it now: “Hey Alicyn, I got some foundational knowledge and in-depth answers from your website's tax chat bot. It also told me how much I might owe with my tax returns next year. That's all helpful, but I also really want some 1:1 help with this upcoming transaction. I want to make sure I'm thinking about this right and maybe you have insights on the outcomes for your other clients who’ve done the same.”
Fingers crossed.
