Here’s My GenAI Wishlist for Xero
Dear Xero, Christmas/Hanukah/summer solstice is coming up really fast. I look over at my friends in America playing with their shiny AI assistant, Intuit Assist, and wish that my Xero file had some of that generative AI magic too.
Here’s my wishlist. If your elves could squeeze it into their busy scrums I’d be ever so grateful.
I want to write bank rules in natural language (aka plain English). Then I want to finetune them in natural language, like I would with the bookkeeper sitting next to me. Like, “Those small amounts in Officeworks are me buying snacks. Only record the big amounts as a business expense.”
I wish that I could talk to Xero and ask questions about tax, like: "This is a bank fee. Does it have GST?” or “What is the minimum monthly threshold for paying super?”
Help me with those difficult tasks like recording an insurance expense or an airfare where some amounts are with GST and some without. I want to say, “Here is the expense. Make me a sample bill and copy it for all similar expenses in the future”.
Help me find things even if I don't remember the specific search term. Like, “Help me find that time I paid for the website hosting, I don't remember the name of the company.” Or, "That maintenance person who came once last year, in the winter, to fix the leak.”
Watch me when I work and tell me if I am doing something that doesn't make sense.
We are not all the same. Let me tell the AI what I want from it. If I am a small business, I may want more guidance. If I am a professional accountant or bookkeeper, maybe I want it to just do what I tell it to do.
I want it to follow instructions, like: "Go and reconcile all the Bunnings transactions.” You know, like cash coding but with natural language.
Let me talk to it on my phone so I don't have to fiddle with the mobile app. I can just tell it what I want and it will take me to the right page.
You know how sometimes we prepare a brief for a new bookkeeper? Prepare that brief for me. Or let me tell it to you. Let it look at my data and summarise how I typically run my books.
Make it fun!
Thanks Xero. Only 65 days to go. I can’t wait to see what you put under the tree.
Yours,
Inbal
