AI and the CPA Profession: The Alignment Problem

Overview:

The Alignment problem, popularized by Brian Christian’s book by the same name, refers to the problem created by AI solutions such as Chat GPT and Google’s Bard not having the same values as humans. AI produces outcomes based on its programming and big data. However, those outcomes may not be aligned with our ethical values.

AI will no doubt be an integral part of professional lives. However, as we move at lightning speed to integrate AI solutions as CPAs, the effect of these solutions on our ethical decision-making and professional judgement is critical to understand.

For the CPA Profession, we must grapple with how this technology will integrate with our highly valued skill sets, including:

1.    Ethical decision making

2.    Professional judgement

3.    Trust and leadership

This webinar will explore how AI may impact our ethical decision-making as CPAs and how to implement safeguards to maintain the public’s trust.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completing this course, you should be able to:

• Define artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning
• Define generative AI
• Define the alignment problem
• Define ethical decision making
• Describe at least two examples of the alignment problem
• Identify how AI is and will be applied in our profession
• Identify the ethical challenges posed by AI to our profession
• Employ safeguards to ethical decision-making when using AI solutions

Who Will Benefit: 

This course will benefit professionals seeking to identify challenges to our ethical decision-making in using AI and employing safeguards to maintain the public’s trust.