Finance leaders have mixed perspectives on generative AI's short- and long-term impacts. As experts and finance leaders alike have predicted a large disruption in traditional operations thanks to the new technology, a range of others, from small and medium-sized accounting firms to large boards of directors, have questioned the ability of GenAI to have a legitimate impact on the finance function.
CFO’s daily newsletter The Daily Balance asks our subscribers a weekly poll question each Wednesday. Lately, we’ve asked questions about AI’s impact and how it will affect the finance function and have gotten results that don’t exactly match the technology’s hype.
On April 3, we asked our subscribers how they expect the hype around GenAI’s trajectory to change over the next six to 12 months. Out of the 343 responses we received, over a quarter (26%) said they expect a dramatic drop in excitement around GenAI.
Many finance leaders continue to remain hesitant about fully adopting GenAI. Because of this, and possibly because of the poor perception of OpenAI’s business practices and the engineering behind Google's Gemini disaster, the GenAI bandwagon appears to be losing steam and passengers. An identical amount of readers (19%) expected either a slight drop in excitement, consistent excitement, or a slight increase. The least likely scenario is a dramatic increase in hype, only being predicted by 17% of respondents.
Automation of human labor
Automation tools, many of which are powered by AI, are being implemented by CFOs who have been encouraged or assigned to put their systems through digital transformations.
Although CFOs of for-profit and non-profit companies have credited their people for their digital transformation’s success, nearly half (49%) of the 225 subscribers who responded to a different CFO poll, shared on March 27, said they have already implemented or plan on implementing automation tools over the next 12 months that will replace labor currently being done by a human being.
These findings also continue to indicate a hesitancy from finance leaders to completely rely on automation. Twenty-nine percent of readers said they had no plans to implement any such tool over the next 12 months and another 22% were unsure.
AI as a risk factor
In January, 288 CFO newsletter subscribers gave their take on the biggest risk facing their organization going into 2024. Behind access to capital, hasty AI adoption was a top risk factor. Over a quarter (26%) indicated this as their top concern. Cyber threats, the top choice for 13% of respondents, can also be AI-related.
As cybersecurity leaders have stressed the impact these technologies have on the importance of sound cybersecurity, CFOs who are assessing risk must take into consideration not only the consequences of poor implementation of the AI at an operational level but in a data security and cultural level as well.