Intuit's GenOS Powering 810 Million AI Engagements Annually for Enhanced User Experiences

We have engaged with Prashanth Seshadri, the Director of AI, Analytics & Data at Intuit, financial software company. In this interview, we will delve into the pivotal role of Intuit's AI-centric approach in establishing the company as a reputable service provider within the fintech sector. Prashanth will offer insights into how Intuit's strategic shift towards an AI-driven expert platform has reshaped the landscape of financial technology, leveraging data and cutting-edge AI technologies to deliver personalized recommendations, insights, and actions tailored to the unique needs of users.

Excerpts:

What role has your AI-centric approach played in establishing Intuit as a reputable service provider within the fintech sector?

Over five years ago, Intuit declared its strategy to be an AI-driven expert platform, with data and AI being core to the strategy. We’re transforming from a tax and accounting platform, where consumers and small businesses have to do the work, to a global financial technology platform, where we do the hard work for them. This is possible because of our early investments in data and AI, and our accelerated investment in generative AI (GenAI).

We use a combination of machine learning, knowledge engineering, natural language processing, natural language understanding, and Generative AI (GenAI) to provide tailored recommendations, insights, and actions that cater to the unique needs of users, fostering reliability and relevance. At the heart of Intuit's position as a leader in financial technology lies its robust data and AI capabilities driving 810M AI-driven customer interactions per year,  65B machine learning predictions per day 25M conversations processed with natural language processing per year 2M models running in production per day

Intuit Assist, integrated across its suite of products, including TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, delivers personalized, intelligent recommendations, simplifying financial decision-making and instilling confidence in customers. This assistant not only guides and assists users but also performs tasks on their behalf, ultimately saving time and increasing financial gains. Leveraging contextual data sets spanning small business, consumer finance, and tax domains, Intuit Assist tailors its insights for a diverse customer base, reflecting the company's commitment to enhancing financial experiences through advanced AI technologies. Additionally, it facilitates connections to human experts through the Live Platform, ensuring personalized assistance whenever needed.

How integral has GenOS been in the success of Intuit Assist?

Our proprietary GenOS has been integral to the success of Intuit Assist, empowering technologists to rapidly design, build, and deploy innovative Generative AI experiences  to fuel rapid innovation at scale across Intuit’s products and services to solve its customers’ most important financial problems and drive durable growth. It is designed to run with our own financial large language models (LLMs) that are fine-tuned to solve tax, accounting, cash flow, personal finance, and marketing challenges.

Generating an impressive 810 million AI-driven customer interactions annually, it leverages a unified data architecture for personalized experiences for over 100 million consumers and small businesses, Intuit utilizes its vast customer data and proprietary GenOS platform to gain a competitive edge in the fintech sector.

GenOS unlocks the potential of GenAI by incorporating components like GenStudio for rapid development, GenRuntime for intelligent model selection, GenUX for user-interface consistency, and Financial Large Language Models (LLMs) for solving diverse financial challenges. These custom-trained LLMs, based on extensive customer data, provide actionable insights and interacts with users. By leveraging GenOS, Intuit Assist delivers personalized, intelligent recommendations, simplifying financial decision-making and instilling confidence in customers.

What role has Intuit India played in the evolution and enhancement of Intuit Assist?

Intuit India has played a significant role in the evolution and enhancement of Intuit Assist, contributing significantly to the company's mission of becoming an AI-driven expert platform. As the second-largest engineering hub for the company, the India site houses over 1800 technologists who are dedicated to innovation and engineering excellence. The teams in India demonstrate extreme ownership and accountability for services and capabilities across Intuit's tech ecosystem, including the data layer, AI layer, and money movement capabilities, serving over 100 million customers worldwide.

Intuit India has played a crucial role in harnessing the potential of Generative AI to fuel innovation within Intuit Assist. One notable example is the utilization of GenAI for Reporting in QuickBooks, enabling customers to seek answers to their questions with speed and accuracy. Additionally, it has also leveraged GenAI in the Virtual Expert Platform, such as TurboTax Full Service, to automate tasks for tax experts and provide seamless experiences for customers.

How does Intuit prioritize ethical AI development, particularly concerning privacy, security, and fairness within its Gen-AI financial tools?

Intuit's commitment to ethical AI is evident in its comprehensive approach to safeguarding customer data and ensuring fairness in its AI-driven solutions. For nearly a decade, Intuit has been innovating with AI, and its robust data and AI capabilities are foundational to the company’s success as an industry leader in the financial technology sector. Intuit safeguards customer data and protects privacy using industry-leading technology and practices, and adheres to responsible AI principles that guide how the company operates and scales its AI-driven expert platform with its customers' best interests in mind.

It implements robust security measures to safeguard sensitive information, including encryption, access controls, and regular security audits. Furthermore, the company is dedicated to fairness in AI by continuously monitoring and evaluating its algorithms to prevent bias and discrimination. Intuit's AI development process includes rigorous testing and validation to ensure that its financial tools provide equitable outcomes for all users, regardless of background or demographics. 

In what ways does Intuit leverage Gen-AI and its extensive data to construct sophisticated predictive models capable of forecasting financial trends and detecting potential issues?

Intuit leverages its vast amounts of proprietary data spanning small businesses, consumer finance, and tax domains, along with its investments in generative AI and AI-driven expert platform, to construct sophisticated predictive models capable of forecasting financial trends and detecting potential issues. These models are powered by Intuit's proprietary Generative AI Operating System (GenOS) and fine-tuned large language models (LLMs) specifically designed to solve challenges in areas like tax, accounting, cash flow, personal finance, and marketing.

As an example, QuickBooks, Intuit Assist can surface cash flow hotspots, identify top-selling products, and detect spending anomalies, providing small businesses with AI-powered assistance to unearth relevant insights based on their performance and customer behavior. For consumers, Intuit Assist can analyze individual financial data to predict potential cash crunches and proactively recommend personalized financing options to avoid such issues.

By harnessing its rich data assets and cutting-edge Gen-AI capabilities, Intuit aims to empower its consumer and small business customers with predictive intelligence, enabling them to stay ahead of financial trends, mitigate risks, and make informed decisions for long-term success.