AI impact and a bridge to the future: keynote reflections from Joe Atkinson
The turn of the year is a great time to look both back and ahead and that makes it a great time to report in more detail on the keynote speech by Joe Atkinson, Global Chief AI Officer at PwC, at Data Amplified 2024.
It was fascinating to hear him speak on the importance of structured data. “The simple, powerful truth is that structured data has greater value than unstructured data and that’s been at the core of our thinking for decades,” he said. “It felt like a simple, unchallenged truth right up until the age of AI came upon us but, as they say, spoiler alert… properly structured and tagged data is as important today as it ever was.”
Joe is also a history buff and that meant some fascinating reflections on the history of reporting. He observed that while change may appear to be happening overnight, it is rooted in the technologies we have been working on for decades. He also reminded us of Amara’s Law, stating that we tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run. That seems to be the state of affairs in AI right now, and we will see truly transformative change in the longer term.
Remarking on the unique value of XBRL reporting, Joe remarked that “The data we’re talking about is not only structured but… it’s arguably the most structured and well understood data anywhere in the enterprise,” with a crucial role in the functioning of markets around the world. “Structured data including tags and metadata will continue to be a critical building block [to] help us achieve consistency and reliability of financial data, which in turn is critical to providing investors and stakeholders the information they need to make those well-informed decisions.”
We enjoyed Joe’s vision of a complex web of potential, in which AI tools unlock new methods for users such as investors to derive insights – and also for preparers to manage and evaluate their own data, potentially giving them the ability to make better sense and give structure to some of their unstructured data – in turn providing new possibilities for insights from financial statements, making structured and tagged data even more powerful and relevant.
Throughout his speech, Joe emphasised the central importance of continued experimentation, innovation and learning for all of us. With this in mind, we were very interested to hear more about PwC’s decision to train all staff – not only those in particular roles – on AI, giving them the fundamental understanding and the skills they need to navigate an AI world. We have an obligation to help build the bridge from the present to the future, says Joe, and get as many people across that bridge as want to cross it. Food for thought, perhaps, for how the reporting community can provide leadership.
Watch the full video of Joe’s keynote here. Most presentations from Data Amplified 2024 are now online, so you can get stuck in here.
