Pixie leverages AutoGPT to create Co-Pilot tool

Powered by AutoGPT and OpenAI’s GPT4 functionality, the Pixie Co-Pilot tool aims to cut down the time spent by accounting firms on front-office tasks such as drafting responses to basic client queries, locating documents and making workflow suggestions. 

Speaking to AccountingWEB, Pixie founder Celso Pinto said Co-Pilot could be used when a client makes a loan application and emails the firm requesting several supporting documents. This lands in the Pixie inbox, and if the relevant documents are available in the system, the Co-Pilot will bring them together, attach them to an email and draft a response ready for the accountant to review.

“We hear from our customers all the time that front-office work servicing basic queries takes up a lot of firms’ operating time,” said Pinto. “Co-Pilot doesn’t replace the human in the loop, but instead it enables you to gather information, draft communications, review and send to the client in a way that is 10 times more efficient.”

Pixie

Via integrations, Co-Pilot can also draft responses to client questions about tax returns, collect information and create client communications such as suggestions of what tax-related documentation to send and when to send it.

While Co-Pilot will be integrated into Pixie’s day-to-day workflows, users will be able to toggle it on or off, depending on their preference.

“We want Pixie to act as a junior assistant, to be that ‘front of office’ tool for accounting firms,” said Pinto. “We believe this sets our course for the next few years, and soon this will be table stakes for practice management software.

Accountancy professionals have expressed concerns about generative AI tools and data privacy, and Pixie confirmed that unlike ChatGPT, it will use OpenAI’s core platform to ensure data is kept safe and private. OpenAI does not use data submitted by customers via their API to train OpenAI models or improve OpenAI’s service offering.

Platform relaunch

Co-Pilot is part of a wider relaunch of Pixie’s overall practice management platform at the end of May.

Offering a slightly different look and feel to its original layout, the new platform enables improved integrations, beefed-up reporting and workflow planner functions to help firms answer questions such as “What does my tax return work look like in October?” (which also offers improved functionality for firms working in pods) and a way to lock down access to data for certain team members, for example, an outsourcing team.

“When we launched last year our BTCSoftware integration concept was well-received and we found that our customers wanted more workflow integrations and one dashboard to work from,” said Pinto.

He went on to add that increased interest from larger firms had led Pixie to examine how it was planning to serve the whole accounting market in the future.

“We’ve been trying to accommodate many different needs on the same platform, from solo bookkeeping firms to fast-growing accounting firms and now top 20 names as well. We need to scale across all practices, so this new platform is a way for us to address this.”

Pixie will be demonstrating its new platform and previewing the Co-Pilot functionality at the forthcoming Accountex trade show at London’s ExCeL centre.

The Co-Pilot beta will be accessible to specific customers before a more general release as part of the new platform. It will carry an additional cost to users, which has yet to be announced.