How Intuit is Betting its Future on AI
Intuit, the company behind TurboTax and QuickBooks, has undergone a massive strategy shift, putting artificial intelligence (AI) at the center of its business. CEO Sasan Goodarzi realized that customers didn’t want to perform tasks like tax calculations and bookkeeping themselves—they wanted these tasks done for them. This led to a company-wide revamp, including two major acquisitions totaling $20 billion, hundreds of layoffs, and a significant investment in AI.
Intuit has been integrating AI elements into its products for years, but its first major stand-alone AI product, Intuit Assist, has just been launched. This AI assistant is embedded in products like TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, and according to the company, it can do everything from predicting cash flow issues at a small business to creating and executing email marketing campaigns.
Goodarzi believes that Intuit’s early bet on AI, coupled with its massive data trove, will allow the company to dominate the tax and accounting software market. The company has access to data from its 57 million customers, and with the acquisition of Credit Karma and Mailchimp, it has gained access to even more valuable customer data.
Despite some skepticism from top executives, Goodarzi made the decision to make AI the core of Intuit’s business model. The company’s wealth of data was a crucial factor in this decision, as AI relies on vast and clean data. Goodarzi’s strategy involved not only investing in AI but also firing hundreds of employees and replacing them with new hires with AI skills.
Intuit’s AI-powered assistant, Intuit Assist, offers personalized analyses and recommendations for small business owners, individuals filing taxes, and marketers. The company hopes that its early investment in AI will create a network effect, attracting more customers and improving its products based on their feedback.
While the introduction of OpenAI’s ChatGPT sparked concerns that Intuit would be undermined by free or low-cost AI, the company remains confident in its competitive advantage. OpenAI lacks Intuit’s vast proprietary dataset, which is essential for providing personalized recommendations.
Investors have responded positively to Intuit’s AI-powered strategy, with the stock outperforming the S&P and Nasdaq. Goodarzi’s ambitious goals include doubling customers’ savings rates and increasing the success rate of small and medium businesses on the platform.
Intuit sees AI as a transformative technology on par with electricity and the internet and expects it to create new economies and experiences. As the company continues its AI journey, it projects significant revenue and earnings growth in the coming years.
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