We’ve all heard about artificial intelligence (AI) by now. Particularly ChatGPT has dominated the headlines throughout 2023. If you’ve not heard about it, where have you been? But don’t worry we can clue you in.
The rise of artificial intelligence has led to many mixed emotions. People are concerned about their jobs, or even “computers taking over the world,” whereas others are excited to see what’s next to come. But what does AI mean for you? Well, if you’re currently learning something new, such as training to work in the accounting and finance industry, we have good news - AI can become your new best friend.
What is AI?
In the spirit of this article, we used the artificial intelligence tool, Jasper, to tell us what AI is:
“Artificial Intelligence is the branch of computer science that deals with programming computers to think and act in ways that emulate human intelligence. It involves developing algorithms and programs that can learn, recognize patterns, communicate, reason and make decisions. AI has a wide range of applications from healthcare to banking and finance, transportation, robotics, logistics, security systems, space exploration and many more. It is used for complex problem-solving tasks, such as automated reasoning and planning, and has become increasingly important in the development of intelligent machines and systems. AI technologies can help to solve problems that are too difficult or too costly for humans to solve on their own. AI also has the potential to improve the efficiency of existing processes, such as medical diagnosis, online search and information retrieval. AI is a rapidly growing field with many exciting advances being made every day. As the possibilities of AI technology expand, it will continue to have a major impact on our lives.”
Well done if you read all of that without skipping. But, in simpler forms, artificial intelligence is essentially a computer that can perform ‘human-like’ tasks. This means that it can essentially browse a database, or the internet, in seconds and give you the answer to a question that you need.
However, it can do much more than answer questions. It can adapt to situations without being specifically programmed. So, as time goes on, we can only expect it to get much smarter and more efficient.
AI and learning
Whatever your opinion of artificial intelligence, there are still ways for it to be beneficial to you. When you’re learning new content, there are ways that AI can teach you in a way that you understand better, and even revise for an exam.
Know what to ask
AI can only be as good as you make it. A common issue is that it can give you a lot of information all at once, making things sound like a big Wikipedia document. However, you need to be asking the right questions and giving the necessary information.
You can ask the right questions by being specific. Remember, AI has a lot of information in its databases, so asking a generic question such as “What is [topic]?” is not going to be as effective as “Write a list of all of the general points about [topic] that will help me understand it better.” The more you understand a topic, the more you can ask specific questions.
Therefore, our advice is to use the material that you already have to study, and then turn to artificial intelligence if you need something explained in a slightly different way. You can prompt the tools to provide information in any way that you need.
Revision and study plans
If you’re struggling with managing your time and studies, you can ask artificial intelligence to create a study or revision plan for you. But again, be specific.
“Create a study plan for [topic]” is much broader than “Create a 30-day revision plan for [topic] with a focus on [topics that you need to focus more on].” The output is determined by the input, so the more you know what you need, the better the results will be.
Understanding a process
Sometimes, no matter how much you read the materials and a tutor supports you, you just can’t quite understand how to follow a process.
In accounting and finance, of course, a lot of numbers are involved. So, there may be times when you need help knowing how to solve a problem or the best point of action for certain situations.
You can ask AI to help give you more detail on how you would solve specific problems or questions, which can help you understand the process better.
For example; “Create a breakdown on how you would solve this problem: [insert problem or topic you are struggling with]” or “Create a step-by-step process on how I can solve this problem: [problem/topic].” You can then decide how much more or less information you need to help you remember by asking AI more detailed questions depending on their output.
AI is not your new brain
Whether you like it or not, it looks like artificial intelligence is here to stay, and is only going to get better. However, you need to be specific and know exactly what you need to write the best prompts. And remember that you’re trying to learn - and not just ‘know’ the content.
For example, if you ask AI to explain a topic or term to you in a simple format, you need to ensure that you still understand it, and understand why things mean what they mean. AI is not your new brain, you still need to think for yourself, especially when you’re preparing for exams. So, our advice is to treat it as an all-knowing study buddy that can help you understand things better while making your learning a little easier.
Ready to learn?
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