I became an accountant because I like my routine. I get up at 5:45 am, pack a turkey and swiss
on rye and hit the road before the 8am rush. My friends call me Predictable Peter. That’s ok with
me. It’s why I accepted the job at Brown’s Accounting Firm. Ten stories of khaki pants, excel
spreadsheets and neat rows of cubicles.
Predictable, just like me.
Until corporate came in with some bow-tie wearing techies and announced some impending
“changes.” They droned on about state-of-the-art artificial intelligence designed specifically for
accounting firms. Said it would “lighten our load.” That’s robo-talk for layoffs and a reenactment
of I-Robot.
I was this close to resigning. I’ve seen the movies. I’m not about to become Will Smith.
But then April 14th rolled around. Day before tax day. Hurricane Leo swept the east coast,
narrowly missing our office and destroying the power lines three blocks wide.
We were toast. Clients were in a frenzy.
But then, in rolled half a dozen AI bots no bigger than Wall-E, each with their own monitors and
back-up drives. My jaw dropped. The little bots whipped out all our back-up data I was sure had
been fried in the storm.
We made every deadline that year. Completed every return. And didn’t cost our clients a dime.
Turns out predictability isn’t always best, and AI isn’t out to kill us.
Jordan Thompson 