ChatGPT, a new AI chatbot, seemed to have mastered many of life’s challenges, from MBA courses to the GRE verbal test and 13 out of 15 AP courses. Unfortunately, this impressive performance did not extend to accounting class. A study conducted by Brigham Young University which included 327 co-authors from 186 educational institutions in 14 countries and 25,181 classroom accounting exam questions found that ChatGPT had an average score of only 47.4% – not even close to a D grade. To make matters worse, even when it outperformed the human students on 11.3% of questions, it was mainly on AIS and auditing. Tax, financial and managerial assessments were all ruled out, due to the AI bot’s difficulty with mathematical operations; in one instance, ChatGPT even mistakenly added two numbers in a subtraction problem.
This dismal performance had not dampened the enthusiasm of bringham Young University professor of accounting David Wood, however. Wood believes the technology could help improve the teaching process for faculty, and the learning process for students.
Another curious application of ChatGPT is the potential of this AI chatbot to pass the CPA Exam. Accounting Today is in the midst of exploring this and will soon be releasing the results on its findings. For the meantime, AI chatbots should take note of ChatGPT’s failure when it comes to accounting class, and steer away from any math-related ambitions.
