By Eric E. Cohen, CPA
In a speech given September 15, 2022, PCAOB Board Member Christina Ho spoke about audit quality challenges in the 21st Century. To that end, she looked back over the past 20 years of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act era, and looked ahead to the data future and issues with evolving and emerging technology, and dealing with the talent issue in our profession. She noted that we know things become mainstream when National Public Radio (NPR) is discussing issues with the pipeline for future financial professionals, pointing to the episode “If the world Had no accountants,” which refers to CPAs as “the unsung heroes of the financial world.”
I like to think NPR is not the ultimate lagging indicator. Instead, I might look to televised talent shows. And this summer’s “America’s Got Talent” (AGT0) has brought the AI-based technology known as deep-fakes into the spotlight.
I wrote about the issue a few months back. The AGT competitor, called Metaphysic, brought real-time deep-fakery to our screen as they used a library of Simon Cowell’s facial expressions, a live singer bearing some resemblance, and AI to overlay Simon’s visage over the singers, to some great effect. As they progressed through the contest, two more singers had the facial images of Terry Crews and Howie Mandel overlaid. While I found the Terry effect well done, the Mandel deepfake looked more like another Canadian, Paul Shaffer. In this week’s finals, a startling Elvis Presley was joined by Cowell again, with the two other judges deep-faked as back singers/dancers – Heidi Klum and Sofia Vergara. I know I should be more impressed by what they did than how they fell short on the ladies – this is a stepping stone, not the ultimate.
Metaphysic came in fourth place. behind some amazing singers and dancers – coincidentally, number 3 was a rising country singer who has been an Elvis impersonator himself, Drake Milligan.
Why talk about it here?
As deep-fake tech continues to improve and awareness increases, we can only begin to guess the risks it can bring to financial professionals. This blog entry is more an update to the AGT season than being able to provide more risks to consider and more controls to implement. But the world is becoming increasingly aware that, when you look at someone on a computer screen, that person may not be who you think it is; the reactions you see on screen may not reflect their real reactions, and what it seems like they are saying may not be what they are saying. The potential impact on business and financial controls is staggering.