In the age of artificial intelligence, it is not a surprise that machines have become smarter and more advanced with time. However, in a recent study that involved 186 universities, it was shown that humans still dominate when it comes to accounting. The researchers wanted to compared the performance of ChatGPT to university accounting students, to understand how the AI performs against human beings.
The study gave out some eye-opening results – the students scored an average of 76.7%, which is much higher than the 47.4% scored by the AI technology, ChatGPT. However, it wasn’t all bad for ChatGPT. On certain accounting questions such as information systems and auditing, the chatbot did better than the student average, scoring 11.3% higher on these questions.
On the other hand, ChatGPT performed poorly on the written and mathematical questions related to taxation, finances and managerial assessments. It also had issues answering true/false and multiple-choice questions, and did poorly on short-answer questions which require higher order thinking.
The lead author of the study, David Wood, highlights that they do not intend to focus on the negative aspects of ChatGPT, but instead look at technological progress and how it can help people learn better. In the future, ChatGPT can take part in designing and testing assignments and hopefully make the learning process more efficient.
ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by a company based in London. It was released in November 2022 and gained immediate global traction with 100 million users within two months. Despite its current shortcomings in the realm of accounting, the technology is constantly advancing and is sure to evolve significantly in the upcoming years.
Jessica Wood, one of the students who participated in the study, said “Trying to learn solely by using ChatGPT is a fool’s errand.” Even with the challenges highlighted in the study, the researchers are hopeful for the future of ChatGPT and its ability to improve education and assessment.
