AI is no substitute for traditional research, as Google Bard so amply proves

By Tom Ravlic

November 8, 2023

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What else does Google Bard chew up, screw up, and spit out? (Andrii Iemelianenko/Adobe)

The experimental nature of artificial intelligence (AI) and its use in advocacy work was highlighted during the recent controversy over its use in submissions from accounting academics who accused accounting firms of doing some things they never did.

Academic and Emeritus Professor James Guthrie, a key critic of the structure of accounting firms and their inability to avoid conflicts of interest, took a look at Google Bard shortly after its release while preparing a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services.

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