ThinkTWENTY20

Version control (and variations on that theme) are an important part of the financial professional’s responsibilities. Whether it is making sure a current period’s documents are consistent with a prior period’s (e.g., “last period” numbers in the current report lining up with “current period” numbers in the prior report),  ensuring the most recent version of a document is published and not an interim version, or seeking consistency between documents in different languages or levels of detail, mistakes have been made and people are thrown at a task to limit those mistakes.

I promised an update on trends related to OpenAI’s ChatGPT (and its licenses and competitors) in my 23 March blog post, and in the article that appeared in the latest ThinkTwenty20 journal, speaking to the imminent (and now accomplished) release of the Cloud Security Alliance’s publication, Security Implications of ChatGPT, to which I contributed.

By Eric E. Cohen, CPA

The Emergence of AI for “All of Us”

Physical attacks on the power grid in the United States rose by 71% in 2022. There are many reasons for such attacks, from simple theft of valuable copper to environmental, (geo)political, and economic attacks. Canada’s electricity sector has also seen a steady stream of attacks, often financially and geopolitically motivated. Ensuring that all citizens have ongoing and predictable access to energy is often considered a high priority; artificial intelligence is considered an important part of the government and industry strategy to protect against such attacks.

By Eric E. Cohen, CPA

There is a community that believes Bitcoin (and/or any of the other cryptocurrencies and tokens out there) will replace “fiat” currency (including coins and bills) as we know it. Indeed, there are more than 50 listings at CoinGecko.com with market shares in excess of $1B US; the top dozen account for more than 80% of the current $1.04 Trillion market cap. Enthusiasts hope for 100x increases in value, pointing to the crazy increases many of the top cryptos went through in the past.

By Eric E. Cohen, CPA

The ‘Lectic Loonie and High-tech Toonie. The Digital Dollar. Le huard numérique. These fanciful names, most of which I made up, sound like the latest dance craze, but are new digital counterparts to today’s currencies. Will Canada and the US embrace the hype around Central Bank Digital Currencies (monnaie numérique de banque centrale) – known as CBDC (or MNBC)? Is it possible to begin to consider how this might have an impact on the activities, responsibilities, risks and challenges the financial professional may need to face – and when?

By Eric E. Cohen, CPA

In a speech given September 15, 2022, PCAOB Board Member Christina Ho spoke about audit quality challenges in the 21^st 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.