Raise Your AIQ!
Humans and AI are Better Together
Perfection is ideal but we all know that achieving it is difficult (and sometimes near impossible). That’s why accounting professionals need back up for their well-honed instinct and expertise. And that’s where AI comes in.
Think about someone highly skilled at their craft: A writer for example. A writer will use AI to get started on a piece of content and then apply their skill and instinct to refine it. AI helped jumpstart the project by following the writer’s carefully crafted prompt thread. The writer then applies their expertise to create a polished piece. The perfect merger!
This is a great example of an individual with elevated AIQ (Artificial Intelligence Quotient). In simplest terms…
AIQ represents a human’s ability to think strategically with AI, not just use it for basic tasks.
And this isn’t just a clever new term or a passing trend. AIQ is backed by hard data, developed by a group of researchers at MIT.
“[Researchers] theorize that AIQ is distinct from other human abilities (e.g., IQ, EQ) and AI abilities (e.g., computing ability) because AIQ concerns human-AI complementarity.” (MIT, AIQ study)
Simply put: High-AIQ individuals excel at maximizing the unique strengths of both their own human expertise and AI capabilities. It’s about knowing when and how to use AI for better insights and decisions and not just about dumping basic questions in a prompt. It’s about using your IQ and creativity with AI to get the most out of it, which is possible when AI and humans come together.
How AIQ works in a firm
AIQ represents your ability to use AI successfully in decision-making, client advisory and business strategy. It’s about going beyond the prompt and using it as your strategic thought partner.
Think about two different scenarios in your firm:
Accounting pro 1: Uses AI like a search engine to draft emails or summarize tax updates.
Accounting pro 2: Uses AI to stress-test client strategies, analyze pricing models and identify advisory opportunities.
Accounting pro 2 has a higher AIQ because they think beyond basic function and automation, using AI for strategic decision-making. To be more direct: Accounting pro 2 is pretty badass.
AIQ matters to firms that want to leverage AI’s power by combining it with in-house expertise and intuition. It’s like combining superpowers.
Why AIQ matters
The more you apply AI to help you strategize, the better partner it becomes. AI has the ability to coach you through insights and planning because you’re the one guiding it with insightful prompts and questions. Think about the big-value props:
More than automation, AI enhances your judgment. It does not replace it.
The higher your AIQ the better your client advisory practice. AI surfaces insights that professionals might miss.
Firms with AIQ scale faster because they focus on strategy, not just compliance work.
Humans and AI are better together. Neither is perfect, but as a team, represent a force to be reckoned with. To start building AIQ, first, ask better questions (e.g., What are three tax strategies my client isn’t considering? rather than Can you summarize this?). And second, use AI as a thought partner to test pricing strategies, client conversations and leadership decisions before you take action.
No one's perfect
We’ve established that AI and humans are not perfect, but together, they can rock a firm’s world. Once you move past using AI as a search engine, you can start building your AIQ. And the higher it goes, the more useful AI is in helping you strategize and plan.
It’s time to merge human intelligence with AI to advance your firm to one with AI-X (Artificial Intelligence Xcellence) status.