(This column originally appeared in Forbes)
There’s a rumor that Google will soon be launching a major update to Chrome. The application is code-named Project Jarvis and it’s designed to literally take over your device and perform tasks as if you’re sitting in front of it. Which means, just by giving a few instructions, it can go on to Amazon and purchase a product or Expedia to book a flight. All without a user doing a single click.
It’s more than your typical update. It could be huge. And although it’s targeted at consumers, there will ultimately be a major impact on companies.
According to Google, it’s nothing more than an “intelligent companion designed to simplify your life, from managing your smart home to effortless sharing files” where users can use its “user-friendly interface” to “get information, send messages or complete tasks.”
Project Jarvis Is Not Innocent
Sounds innocent enough. But it’s much, much more.
According to Betsy Burton at Aragon Research, Project Jarvis “represents a whole new step towards a future where AI seamlessly integrates with our digital lives.” She says the integration with Chrome will be “almost an extension, but with the AI capabilities needed to understand your needs and preferences, and work autonomously on your behalf.”
Microsoft, IBM and Anthropic are working on similar AI agents and, to be sure, all of this technology is I its earliest stages. Google, for sure, is leading the way.
“I think about [agents] as intelligent systems that show reasoning, planning, and memory. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said recently. “Are able to think multiple steps ahead, work across software and systems, all to get something done on your behalf, and, most importantly, under your supervision.”
It’s still early days but, rest assured, this technology will become better — much better — quickly. And the impact on companies once adopted into business applications will significantly disrupt the way work is being done. The best example I — as a CPA — can demonstrate is how accounting departments will be impacted. Why? Because most of the work done by accounting departments involved mundane, repetitive data entry on screens. All which can be ultimately replaced by Jarvis-like agents.
Project Jarvis Replacing Accounting Staff
Think about what your accounting staff is doing. Then think about how a simple voice command to an agent can do this instead. Examples:
“Convert today’s approved open quotes to orders.”
“For all orders shipped yesterday, convert to invoices and send to customers.”
“Compare all cleared checks on our bank statement to checks written in our accounting system and generate a report of open checks.”
“For all customers with open orders past a promised date, send an email updating their status.”
“Create a new customer record using information in this saved document.”
“Purchase six truckloads of materials from XYZ supplier at a price not exceeding $1.00.”
“Make an estimated tax payment.”
All of these things are now being done by inputting data into a device, usually a desktop. And, with all due respect to the people doing the work, none of these tasks takes much brainpower. All of them can be done by an intelligent enough agent that becomes familiar with your accounting applications.
Project Jarvis Is A Game Changer
Is this over-hyped? One Reddit user echoes a lot of people I know when she says she’s cautiously optimistic.
“It could be a game-changer if it truly enhances our Chrome experience and workflow,” she writes. But Google’s track record with AI products is hit-or-miss. The key will be how seamlessly it integrates and whether it offers real value beyond existing tools. I’m excited to test it out and see if it lives up to the hype!”
All of this is not without risks. Aragon’s Burton says that Project Jarvis “introduces a whole new host of security, privacy and ethical challenges.” It would ultimately have unprecedented access to your company’s data and be carrying out tasks mostly unsupervised. “There’s also the risk of over-reliance, with users potentially becoming overly dependent on the AI for critical tasks that may or may not be accurate,” Burton writes.
None of this is happening right away. But it’s going to happen pretty fast. My prediction is that the big tech companies that are developing agents similar to Project Jarvis will be licensing their technologies to software vendors. Accounting software vendors from Intuit to Sage to Epicor and SAP will be developing similar agents on their own, or may use Project Jarvis or Anthropic or Microsoft. As these agents become more dependable, they will literally be doing the work that your accounting staff is doing. Your payables and billing people should be taking note and updating their skills if they want to keep their jobs.
Because this is what it’s all about, isn’t it? Jobs. Productivity. Overhead reduction. I have clients that employ multiple people in their accounting departments doing data entry all day. They re-key data from one system to another. They attach documents. They enter and retrieve information. They move transactions to spreadsheets for more analysis.
All of this is done by moving a mouse along a screen, pulling down menus, clicking on links, identifying open fields, entering data into those open fields, clicking the save button, then moving on to the next transaction. Project Jarvis AI would easily replicate those actions. With less mistakes. All day and all night. And doesn’t need health insurance. It would get smarter as it learns.
You Won’t See Project Jarvis Right Away
You won’t see this happening in 2025. You’ll start to see this in 2026. Most accountants and business owners I know won’t trust this technology. Many will resist. Accountants like me tend to be overly conservative. And people doing data entry inside of companies oftentimes get territorial. We hate change.
But having this attitude will put our companies at peril. Because younger, more innovative competitors will lean heavily into Project Jarvis and its competitors to help them run their companies as efficiently as possible. And by doing so they’ll be able to quote prices much lower than those who don’t while still protecting their margins.
