With the beginning of a new year, it’s an occasion to think about what will be the big trends of the new year. The first thing that will pop to the minds of many is artificial intelligence, particularly Generative AI. It’s been just over a year since ChatGPT made its presence known to the public, prompting a wave of speculation, hype and true activity.
By Gerald Trites
“A recent study by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) shows that Canadians are diving into new AI tools with excitement but are missing out on understanding the potential downsides.”
Especially since the advent of ChatGPT, the use of AI in various arenas has been expanding quickly. Everyone is talking about it but not everyone is aware of the issues it presents. This is slowly changing, since many people are experimenting with Generative AI and learning that it doesn’t always produce reliable results. In fact, sometimes it invents its own inaccurate results. This can be annoying but becomes a serious problem if the AI is being used, for example, for medical diagnosis.
By Gerald Trites
Industry generally, because of legislation and stakeholder demands trying to move towards net-zero carbon emissions. Measuring progress in this endeavour calls for data that may not be available or may not be consumable because of formatting and general system disparities. Companies are working to rectify this situation and gain ready available to the needed data. It can be a big job.
Equipment being used for production, travel, deliveries etc. that generates carbon emissions often is older and does not have the sensors needed to measure emissions. It may not be practical to replace that equipment so add-ons are often needed to capture it. That will take time to resolve.
In the meantime, companies are left with finding ways to do useful estimates. The data – actual and estimates - needs to be fed into their processes and systems to be useful.
Companies are working on this, especially utilities and energy companies, mostly on scope one emissions. Scope two and three emissions are even harder to deal with from a data viewpoint, because they are outside the direct control of the company.
Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada), one of the largest national accounting organizations in the world, has chosen to become a founding partner of ThinkTwenty20.
