Xero, a global small business platform, unveiled at Xerocon London a groundbreaking technology underpinning its upcoming AI-powered smart business companion Just Ask Xero (JAX). The proprietary technology helps ensure greater accuracy while using AI in the accounting process.
JAX, available in beta in August, will help small businesses and their advisors run their business more efficiently. Customers and accounting and bookkeeping partners will be able to ‘Just Ask Xero’ to complete tasks like generating an invoice or editing a quote, either in Xero or other commonly used apps and devices that businesses use day-to-day, such as mobile, WhatsApp and email.
Diya Jolly, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Xero, said: “We are making steps towards delivering on our product vision – to reimagine accounting through AI and mobile. Small business owners are rarely in one place or using just one tool. Through GenAI and mobile, it’s now possible to really change accounting for small businesses so that it’s where their work is – in the office, on the move, on their computer or on their smartphone. With powerful, smarter AI like JAX answering our customers’ most important questions, we’re making the most critical business tasks available to business owners in the most important place – wherever they work.”
New technology-boosting accuracy in Just Ask Xero
Xero unveiled its first-of-its-kind technology that works under the hood of JAX. The proprietary technology ensures far greater accuracy than other AI models that only rely on large language models (LLMs). It uses a control system to ensure the data that’s fed to the LLMs is only related to the relevant task, such as quoting an invoice.
“It’s critical to ensure accuracy in accounting tasks, which means using GenAI presents a unique challenge. LLMs are incredibly powerful yet can be flawed. When they are ungrounded and don’t have access to the right information in context, they can make up data points. In accounting, we can’t make up information. That’s why implementing a technology like this is so groundbreaking for the accounting industry. It puts the right guardrails in place around the AI to ensure Xero customers using AI for accounting tasks can trust the precision and accuracy of JAX,” Jolly said.
Additionally, the new proprietary technology provides data security in line with broader Xero platform measures. It ensures the LLMs only receive data that the user has given Xero permission to access and keeps the data safely within the platform.
JAX will help small businesses answer questions about their finances and anticipate other tasks that may follow, making it easier to stay on top of their cash flow and make informed decisions with the help of their advisors.