UWCISA's 5 Tech Takeaways: AI Agents, Digital Poetry, and the Creative Rebellion

UWCISA Blog · 02_UWCISA_Nov16_2024

Agentic AI: Transforming Business with Next-Gen Automation

Agentic AI, a next-generation technology identified as a key innovation for 2025, is revolutionizing business workflows by automating complex, decision-driven tasks. Unlike traditional automation tools, Agentic AI adapts to dynamic conditions, integrates seamlessly with CRM, ERP, and BI systems, and performs reasoning-based processes. Companies like Salesforce, Microsoft, and ServiceNow are incorporating Agentic AI into platforms, enabling applications in customer service, cybersecurity, software development, and business intelligence. Businesses are exploring the full scope of applications, with hundreds of untapped use cases emerging.

• Revolutionizing Automation: Agentic AI enhances enterprise workflows, moving beyond simple automation to handle reasoning-based, dynamic tasks.
• Wide Applications: It is making strides in software development, customer service, cybersecurity, and business intelligence.
• Industry Adoption: Companies like Salesforce and Microsoft are leading the way, highlighting the future importance of Agentic AI.

(Source: CIO)

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Shakespeare or ChatGPT? Why Readers Prefer AI Poetry

A study published in Scientific Reports reveals that readers often cannot distinguish between AI-generated poetry and works by poets like Shakespeare or Dickinson—and frequently prefer the AI’s work. Researchers tested participants with poems from both ChatGPT 3.5 and human poets, finding that readers mistook accessible AI poetry for human-authored pieces while dismissing complex human-written work as AI-made. The findings challenge perceptions of creative authenticity and highlight cognitive biases in evaluating poetry.

• AI vs. Human Creativity: Participants often rated AI-generated poetry higher in emotion and originality.
• Cognitive Biases in Play: Readers struggled with complex human-written poems, mistaking them for AI works.
• Impact of Attribution: Knowing a poem’s origin influenced ratings significantly, affecting overall impressions.

Here is a link to the original study.

(Source: Phys.org)

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AI Agents in 2025: Transforming Small Business Operations

AI agents are set to revolutionize small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) in 2025 by automating tasks such as lead qualification, financial management, and customer service. Unlike generative AI chatbots, these agents perform real-world actions autonomously. Companies like Microsoft, Salesforce, and Intuit are incorporating AI agents into their platforms to enhance SMB accessibility. While these tools promise increased efficiency and reduced costs, concerns about workforce displacement remain prevalent. Business owners must educate employees and embrace these tools to stay competitive.

• Enhanced Capabilities: AI agents execute tasks autonomously, optimizing SMB operations.
• Broader Accessibility: AI agents will soon become essential for SMBs, thanks to tailored solutions from leading vendors.
• Adoption Challenges: Workforce concerns and job displacement must be addressed for successful integration.

(Source: Forbes)

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OpenAI’s ‘Operator’: Ushering in the Era of Actionable AI

OpenAI is set to launch "Operator," its new AI platform, in January 2025. Operator introduces computer-using agents capable of autonomously completing tasks such as booking travel or managing workflows with minimal input. This marks a shift from conversational AI to action-oriented systems. OpenAI joins competitors like Google and Anthropic in leading this evolution. While these tools promise increased productivity, ensuring data security and user trust remains critical for adoption.

• Action-Oriented AI: Operator enables AI to perform independent, multi-step tasks.
• Competitive Market: Companies like Google and Anthropic are also racing to develop similar automation-focused AI agents.
• Challenges Ahead: Data security and transparency are vital for widespread adoption of these advanced systems.

(Source: Tom's Guide)

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The Art of Resistance: How Tools Like Glaze Challenge AI Giants

The conflict between digital artists and AI developers continues as tools like Glaze and Nightshade disrupt AI dataset training. Designed to "poison" datasets, these tools aim to prevent unauthorized use of artists' work. OpenAI, the only company to respond to inquiries, referred to these tools as "abuse," acknowledging their effectiveness. The ongoing debate highlights the need for fair compensation and ethical practices in AI training.

• Artists Strike Back: Tools like Glaze disrupt unauthorized AI dataset training, advocating for fair compensation.
• AI Industry Pushback: OpenAI’s response indicates the tools’ effectiveness in combating dataset scraping.
• Call for Fair Practices: The debate highlights the need for ethical practices and fair agreements between artists and AI developers.

(Source: 80.lv)

Author: Malik Datardina, CPA, CA, CISA. Malik works at Auvenir as a GRC Strategist who is working to transform the engagement experience for accounting firms and their clients. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent UWCISA, UW, Auvenir (or its affiliates), CPA Canada or anyone else. This post was written with the assistance of an AI language model. The model provided suggestions and completions to help me write, but the final content and opinions are my own.

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If Artificial Intelligence can identify Shakespeare's linguistic signature, can similar techniques be used in audit?

Can AI help us identify who the real authors of classic literature?

According to MIT, the answer is yes. In a recent, article they noted how machine learning was used to identify how much a co-author helped fill in the banks for Shakespeare's Henry VIII. They had long suspected that John Fletcher was the individual but couldn't identify what passages he wrote into the play.

Petr Plecháč at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague trained the algorithms using plays that Fletcher that corresponded with the time that play was written because "because an author’s literary style can change throughout his or her lifetime, it is important to ensure that all works have the same style".

Based on his analysis, it appears half the play is written by Fletcher.

The experiment is a proof-of-concept that there is a certain linguistic signature to how people author things. In a sense, it means we have a unique pattern when it comes to how we construct sentences. With respect to the experiment run by Dr. Plecháč, the algorithm was able to detect what was written Fletcher because he "often writes ye instead of you, and ’em instead of them. He also tended to add the word sir or still or next to a standard pentameter line to create an extra sixth syllable."

Can this be used within an audit? 

A paper co-authored by Dr. Kevin Moffitt of Rutgers University entitled "Identification of Fraudulent Financial Statements Using Linguistic Credibility Analysis" found just that. In the paper, they explained how they used a "decision support system called Agent99 Analyzer" to  "test for linguistic differences between fraudulent and non-fraudulent MD&As". The decision support system was configured to identify linguistic cues that are used by "deceivers". The papers cites as examples of how deceivers when they speak "display elevated uncertainty, share fewer details, provide more spatio-temporal details, and use less diverse and less complex language than truthtellers".

The result?

The algorithm had "modest success in classification results demonstrates that linguistic models of deception are potentially useful in discriminating deception and managerial fraud in financial statements".

Results like these are a good indication of how the audit profession can move beyond the traditional audit procedures.

Author: Malik Datardina, CPA, CA, CISA. Malik works at Auvenir as a GRC Strategist that is working to transform the engagement experience for accounting firms and their clients. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent UWCISA, UW, Auvenir (or its affiliates), CPA Canada or anyone else