๐งโ๐ป Noteworthy Bits -- 9/12/22
We Need to Talk About How Good A.I. is Getting from NYT
New York Times Technology Columnist, Kevin Roose, doesnโt take sides in the debate on whether the development of artificial intelligence is positive or negative, but he has an important message: โYou should be paying closer to attention to the real, tangible developments that are fueling it.โ
Kevin describes the need for a shared, value-neutral way of talking about what todayโs AI systems are actually capable of doing and outlines 3 key means for doing so:
Regulators and politicians need to get up to speed
The big tech companies investing in AI need to do a better job explaining what theyโre working on
The news media needs to do a better job of explaining AI
Kevin also explores some of the more recent developments in AI which provides a fascinating look into the technology.
Spreadsheets Are Hotโand Cranking Out Complex Code from Wired
In our last newsletter, Welcome to Walley World, we discussed the power of the spreadsheet in your FP&A process. Excel is the OG app, but there is blossoming set of startups reinventing the use cases and capabilities of the spreadsheet that go far beyond financial analysis.
โSpreadsheets are joiningย the โno codeโ trendย in Silicon Valleyโtheyโreย becoming tools that let non-programmers automate some very complex workflows.โ
VCs Target AI Accounting Startups as Companies Look to Control Spending in Uncertain Economy from WSJ
Venture capitalists are increasingly funding startups to help automate data entry and other rote tasks for the finance function.
โThe most advanced AI accounting platforms include capabilities like computer vision that can rapidly extract data from receipts and invoices with a high degree of accuracyโeven leveraging machine learning and predictive analytics to fill in missing entries in expense reportโ