When Intuit sent AI agents to 3 million customers, 85% returned. The reason, according to the company’s EVP and GM: Combining AI with human expertise has become more important than anyone expected — not less.
Marianna Tessel, EVP and GM of the financial software company, calls this AI-HI combination “a massive demand” from her clients, noting that it provides another level of trust and confidence.
“One of the interesting things we’re learning is really the combination of human intelligence and artificial intelligence,” Tessel said. VB Beyond the Pilot podcast. “Sometimes it’s a combination of AI and HI that gives you better results.”
Chatbots alone are not the answer
Intuit, the parent company of QuickBooks, TurboTax, MailChimp and other widely used financial products, was one of the first large enterprises to use generative artificial intelligence. GenOS platform last June (long before the scares "SaaSpocalypse" SaaS companies were trying to rethink their strategy).
The company soon realized that chatbots alone were not the answer in enterprise environments, and pivoted to what it now calls. Intuitive Intelligence. The dashboard-like platform features specialized AI agents for sales, tax, payroll, accounting and project management that users can interact with using natural language to gain insights about their data, automate tasks and generate reports.
Customers report that invoices are paid 90% in full and five days sooner and that manual work is reduced by 30%. AI agents help close the books, categorize transactions, manage payroll, automate invoice reminders and surface discrepancies.
For example, one Intuit customer discovered fraud after contacting AI agents and asking questions about amounts that didn’t match. “In the beginning it was like, ‘Is this wrong?’
Why people are still in the loop
However, Intuit works on the principle that people are “always available,” Tessel said. The platforms are designed so that users can ask a human expert a question when they don’t get what they need from an AI agent, or when they want human feedback.
“I’m not talking about product specialists,” Tessel said. “I’m talking about an actual accountant or tax expert or payroll professional.”
The platform is also built to offer human involvement in “high-stakes” decision-making scenarios. AI moves to a certain level, then human experts review and classify the rest. This provides a level of confidence, according to Tessel.
“In fact, we believe it will be more powerful at the right times and at the right times,” he said. “The specialist still delivers unique things.”
The next step is to give customers the tools to perform next-generation tasks like vibe coding – but with a simple architecture to reduce customer burden. “What we’re testing is this idea, you can actually be coding without realizing you’re doing it,” Tessel said.
For example, a merchant who runs a flower shop wants to ensure that she has the right amount of inventory in stock for Mother’s Day. They can code an agent that analyzes previous years’ sales and creates purchase orders where stocks are low. That agent can then be instructed to automatically perform that task for future Mother’s Days and other major holidays.
Some users will be more sophisticated and want the ability to dive deeper into the technology. “But some just want to express what they want to happen,” Tessel said. “Because what they want to do is run their business.”
Listen to the full podcast to hear about:
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Why can a first party create data? "trench" For SaaS companies.
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Why showing AI logic is more important than a polished interface.
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Why 600,000 data points per customer will change what AI can tell you about your business.
You can also listen and subscribe Off the pilot about Spotify, apple or wherever you get your podcasts from.
