We are now in that period of time between the start of the calendar year and the beginning of the tax year.
All those financial chores you had to address last year will be back in front of you before you know it.
While it might be tempting to try and do everything yourself with AI support, you may be at increased risk of penalties if you stop using human accountants.
What are the dangers of using AI for my finances?
With each new iteration that gets released, AI is able to do more impressive things in a way that feels compellingly real.
Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT are able to increasingly mimic human conversation, while video generation AI, like Sora, creates deceptively realistic videos.
More people than ever are considering using AI to handle their finances, with some treating it as a source of advice and others relying on it to fully complete filings.
However, AI is far from perfect and continued controversies and discussions around the implementation of guardrails and their potential limitations are causing many to rethink their utilisation of the technology.
A more light-hearted aspect of these issues manifested recently when an AI-generated police report saw a police officer turn into a frog because the programme used to write it detected music from the Disney film The Princess and the Frog.
This typifies the issue with using consumer-facing AI and LLMs to complete tasks that they were not designed to handle.
If you utilise AI or LLMs to compile your tax returns or give you financial advice, you may find yourself facing down an error as glaring as a ranine police officer.
Without the expert oversight of an accountant, you may not notice such an error, but you can rest assured that HMRC will spot it and issue the appropriate punishment.
If AI is bad, why do accountants use it?
None of this is to say that AI systems are without merit and they have been successfully adopted by many professionals across a range of industries.
The main issue facing finances in 2026 is the inappropriate use of generic AI and LLMs.
If accountants are using AI, they will be utilising bespoke systems designed to make mundane and tedious tasks simpler so that they can spend more time and energy focusing on high-value work.
This is only possible due to the level of expertise that the accountants have, which allows them to sense check any information that might be compiled by any automated system.
A good accountant would not rely solely on AI to process your financial information and would only utilise systems that have been designed to assist with work.
There is also an issue of data protection that generic AI and LLMs routinely fail to uphold.
If you upload your sensitive data to a consumer-facing AI or LLM, you cannot be sure that the data will stay confidential, as it may be used to train future iterations of the AI.
Accountants will only use systems that comply with GDPR guidelines and would not expose your confidential data to unauthorised parties through unsecure systems.
AI is also no substitute for the level of expert advice that our team of professionals can give you that matches your unique financial situation.
Speak to our team today to get tailored financial support.