How Business Accounting Can Benefit from ChatGPT’s Latest Upgrade

OpenAI rolled out GPT-4o, or Omni, an upgrade to the GPT-4 model that powers its ChatGPT chatbot and virtual assistant, in May 2024. It can process text, audio and images and even identify emotions from facial expressions.

JustPaid is an AI-backed business accounting software company that offers a ChatGPT copilot. In this Q&A, JustPaid co-founder Anelya Grant gives her first impressions of GPT-4o and its potential for financial and other applications.  

What are your initial impressions of GPT-4o compared with its predecessors?

The new model is faster and much more sophisticated in its language processing. The real-time conversational support is moving with the current needs of voice interaction. It made me chuckle when the model displayed some emotional feedback and nuances. 

What improvements does GPT-4o offer over previous versions?

GPT-4o’s advanced vision and audio capabilities, full integration of text, image and audio at the same speed is what the user will experience immediately and what will make them keep coming back for more.

Sam Altman said that the new model GPT 5 perhaps would be released at some point next year, but I think we need enough time to understand and play around with the GPT-4o version for now.

Have you noticed any limitations to GPT-4o?

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One that stood out is that the 80-message limit every three hours is not enough. With the improved features, the new voice mode will be more conversational and concise than ever before, reaching the limit faster.

How might GPT-4o impact different industries compared with earlier versions?

We continue to see AI as a whole becoming more readily adopted across various industries and in various contexts including sales, accounting, marketing and, of course, tech. We are getting leverage across all skilled industries and it will only hopefully make us more productive. Testing new hypotheses and working out iterations will be much faster.

What I am particularly excited about is education applications. Knowing each kid individually, the model can teach and explain more effectively than a teacher in a classroom. 

What notable GPT-4o responses have you seen?

I have not had the chance to try GPT-4o in as many contexts as I would like to before giving my formal and full review, but OpenAI has shared tons of great content and videos showing off the range of capabilities it offers, including an interesting video of two GPT-4os interacting and singing, and a funny rock paper scissors video. 

What can GPT-4o offer for business accounting?

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Working in AI I can be a bit biased but I think that businesses, especially small businesses who don’t have the funds to be able to outsource specific jobs such as to an accountant or a support agent, can lean on OpenAI and GPT-4o to help them bridge gaps and alleviate a lot of the financial burden that comes with hiring out these jobs.

There’s a growing shortage of accountants and, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal from July 2023, we are getting past the time when a company can plug the needs by hiring another person to the finance or accounting department. In much the same way as the internet has been adopted into society, AI is starting to be considered in the same way.