KPMG creates an AI agent that does taxes

While most AI agents have been underwhelming so far, KPMG has built one that may ease the collective shudder that comes with the words “tax day.”

So far, most AI agents aren’t the magic wand AI companies have been selling. A study from Carnegie Mellon University showed that the best-performing model completed the intended task just 30.3% of the time. Just a few months ago, Glenn Hopper, head of AI at VAI consulting, told CFO Brew that AI agents “are not ready for primetime” and are still mostly “vaporware.”

But the Australian branch of KPMG is claiming that a 100-page prompt for AI they’ve written can autonomously create tax advice for clients “​​far faster than humans,” tech publication The Register reported.

The company created its own AI bots, using models from all major AI players, including OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, and Meta. It fed them as much historical tax advice as it could, along with the Australian tax code, according to The Register.

“It is very efficient. It does what our team used to do in about two weeks, in a day. It will strip through our documents and the legislation and produce a 25-page document for a client as a first draft,” KPMG Chief Digital Officer John Munnelly said at a recent tech summit, The Register reported.

But don’t uninstall your TurboTax software just yet. Apparently the AI tax output is only understandable by tax experts, not your average Joe trying to file last minute.