22.10.2023
Tax Prompt Engineer - The job of the future?
With the resurgence of LLMs (= Large Language Models), a new term is emerging that is already considered a well-paid job: the Prompt Engineer.
A Prompt Engineer works with prompts, meaning that the Prompt Engineer interacts with an LLM via text - either directly in a chat interface or via an API (= Application Programming Interface). The reason this is helpful is that a prompt strongly influences the LLM's response. So the better the prompt, the better the answer. This may not always be true, but it is a good rule of thumb to remember: Garbage in, garbage out - and vice versa.
Prompt engineering is not just about writing a message and getting the most out of it. In addition to writing the messages, there are several other ways to fine-tune an LLM’s response:
Providing a system message: adding further information or a description of the situation in which the LLM should position itself to give the LLM the context in which to respond
Adjusting the temperature: this results in a more random or more deterministic output of the provided response
Adjusting top_p: this is a setting similar to the temperature, leading to more factual or more varied responses
This is a topic that is just starting to develop and is already a rabbit hole. Knowing this, it seems obvious that it might be worth having experts in the field.
What does this have to do with the tax world?
Firstly, it is obvious that LLMs can help any office job to produce or assist in producing output. This will not be news to you. In that sense, we have all been Prompt Engineers - sometimes more successful, sometimes less so. We are all interested in gaining an advantage by using LLMs. Some may have already discovered some, others may still be on the fence, or still looking for the right implementation or use of such systems for themselves.
That is fine. Regardless of your feelings, it is an emerging technology that is most probably here to stay. It will find its way and it might not be to stay in the form of a chatbot. It is important, however, to understand the implications that this technology might have, that it can be of immense help and that it is still in its infancy. So, starting to accumulate knowledge now is the right moment in time.
The thing is, not everyone has to be an expert in everything and there is a lot of room in between playing around with ChatGPT and having an interest in new technological developments like LLMs and doing a deep dive into the technology: following all the developments and seeing the nuances. Testing new ideas. Coming up with concrete solutions for existing problems. Constantly. Hence, the job of the Prompt Engineer.
Tax Prompt Engineer
But, then we recently stumbled upon a German webinar that offers two modules titled "Generative AI in Tax Consulting / Tax Prompt Engineer". Furthermore, in a recently published .pdf by Stefan Groß, Prof. Dr. Maximilian Freyenfeld and Dr. Stefan Gradl, which deals with ChatGPT and German taxes, there was talk about "Clear the stage for the Prompt Engineer". Therefore, clearly, the tax sector will need them or does so already. Why not call it Tax Prompt Engineer then?
If we now think about our tax consultancies, tax offices and tax companies, why shouldn't we - the tax sector - have dedicated experts like that? Have someone who listens to our daily challenges and problems and comes up with solutions without necessarily having to be a developer or a software engineer: reducing the length of the bridge that is necessary between Tax and Tech.
A Tax Prompt Engineer could be someone who knows the software landscape of LLM tools - the ones that are ready to use: no-code and low-code tools. Obviously something like ChatGPT, but there are many more and there will be more and more. The Tax Prompt Engineer chooses them, uses them and can even implement them for the whole company, individuals or teams. The Tax Prompt Engineer is the go-to person for everyday productivity hacks.
What qualifies a Tax Prompt Engineer is not only knowledge of LLMs and all that goes with it, but also an understanding of tax. Knowing what matters, knowing that tax is different from other subjects. Knowing that tax has different requirements.
Of course, at the moment anything other than using tools like ChatGPT requires the technical expertise of a Software Engineer. However, in the not too distant future there may be more user-friendly tools that can be easily combined. As has happened with countless other no-code and low-code tools. This time just for (Gen)AI.
And yes, everyone should be involved in these topics, but a Tax Prompt Engineer could be a facilitator for the whole company. Spending the time to keep up to date, to research. Doing the work and bringing it back to the team - polished, ready to go.
The End
So there are certainly a myriad of other ways to implement the latest AI developments in a tax consultancy, but changing the way you look at it, not seeing it as an issue that someone has to deal with on top of their current duties, but seeing it as a strategic challenge that needs to be dealt with specifically, that is what employing a Tax Prompt Engineer offers.
Sources
With the resurgence of LLMs (= Large Language Models), a new term is emerging that is already considered a well-paid job: the Prompt Engineer.
A Prompt Engineer works with prompts, meaning that the Prompt Engineer interacts with an LLM via text - either directly in a chat interface or via an API (= Application Programming Interface). The reason this is helpful is that a prompt strongly influences the LLM's response. So the better the prompt, the better the answer. This may not always be true, but it is a good rule of thumb to remember: Garbage in, garbage out - and vice versa.
Prompt engineering is not just about writing a message and getting the most out of it. In addition to writing the messages, there are several other ways to fine-tune an LLM’s response:
Providing a system message: adding further information or a description of the situation in which the LLM should position itself to give the LLM the context in which to respond
Adjusting the temperature: this results in a more random or more deterministic output of the provided response
Adjusting top_p: this is a setting similar to the temperature, leading to more factual or more varied responses
This is a topic that is just starting to develop and is already a rabbit hole. Knowing this, it seems obvious that it might be worth having experts in the field.
What does this have to do with the tax world?
Firstly, it is obvious that LLMs can help any office job to produce or assist in producing output. This will not be news to you. In that sense, we have all been Prompt Engineers - sometimes more successful, sometimes less so. We are all interested in gaining an advantage by using LLMs. Some may have already discovered some, others may still be on the fence, or still looking for the right implementation or use of such systems for themselves.
That is fine. Regardless of your feelings, it is an emerging technology that is most probably here to stay. It will find its way and it might not be to stay in the form of a chatbot. It is important, however, to understand the implications that this technology might have, that it can be of immense help and that it is still in its infancy. So, starting to accumulate knowledge now is the right moment in time.
The thing is, not everyone has to be an expert in everything and there is a lot of room in between playing around with ChatGPT and having an interest in new technological developments like LLMs and doing a deep dive into the technology: following all the developments and seeing the nuances. Testing new ideas. Coming up with concrete solutions for existing problems. Constantly. Hence, the job of the Prompt Engineer.
Tax Prompt Engineer
But, then we recently stumbled upon a German webinar that offers two modules titled "Generative AI in Tax Consulting / Tax Prompt Engineer". Furthermore, in a recently published .pdf by Stefan Groß, Prof. Dr. Maximilian Freyenfeld and Dr. Stefan Gradl, which deals with ChatGPT and German taxes, there was talk about "Clear the stage for the Prompt Engineer". Therefore, clearly, the tax sector will need them or does so already. Why not call it Tax Prompt Engineer then?
If we now think about our tax consultancies, tax offices and tax companies, why shouldn't we - the tax sector - have dedicated experts like that? Have someone who listens to our daily challenges and problems and comes up with solutions without necessarily having to be a developer or a software engineer: reducing the length of the bridge that is necessary between Tax and Tech.
A Tax Prompt Engineer could be someone who knows the software landscape of LLM tools - the ones that are ready to use: no-code and low-code tools. Obviously something like ChatGPT, but there are many more and there will be more and more. The Tax Prompt Engineer chooses them, uses them and can even implement them for the whole company, individuals or teams. The Tax Prompt Engineer is the go-to person for everyday productivity hacks.
What qualifies a Tax Prompt Engineer is not only knowledge of LLMs and all that goes with it, but also an understanding of tax. Knowing what matters, knowing that tax is different from other subjects. Knowing that tax has different requirements.
Of course, at the moment anything other than using tools like ChatGPT requires the technical expertise of a Software Engineer. However, in the not too distant future there may be more user-friendly tools that can be easily combined. As has happened with countless other no-code and low-code tools. This time just for (Gen)AI.
And yes, everyone should be involved in these topics, but a Tax Prompt Engineer could be a facilitator for the whole company. Spending the time to keep up to date, to research. Doing the work and bringing it back to the team - polished, ready to go.
The End
So there are certainly a myriad of other ways to implement the latest AI developments in a tax consultancy, but changing the way you look at it, not seeing it as an issue that someone has to deal with on top of their current duties, but seeing it as a strategic challenge that needs to be dealt with specifically, that is what employing a Tax Prompt Engineer offers.