AI agents in QB, and other tech stories you may have missed

August 20, 2025 9:30 AM

Intuit is introducing agentic AI into QuickBooks, managers are making hiring decisions with AI, making Windows 11 faster, and seven other things that happened in technology this past month, and how they'll impact your clients and your firm.

1. Intuit intros virtual team of AI agents

Intuit launched a groundbreaking suite of AI agents embedded in its QuickBooks platform to help businesses automate workflows, gain real-time insights and improve cash flow. Key features include a Payments Agent that predicts late payments, automates invoicing and helps businesses get paid up to five days faster. An Accounting Agent automates bookkeeping, transaction categorization and reconciliation for cleaner, more accurate books. The Finance Agent offers KPI analysis, scenario planning and forecasting to support smarter financial decisions, and a Customer Agent manages leads, drafts emails, schedules meetings and tracks sales opportunities. This marks a major shift from AI as a background tool to AI agents actively completing tasks on behalf of users while keeping them in control. (Source: Intuit)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: Intuit — like most other major software application providers — has one big challenge. It's not creating and rolling out agents. It's actually getting people to use them! Accounting software users are generally accountants, and we accountants are a conservative bunch that don't like taking risks or doing things differently. Many of these same users are terrified that the agents will replace their jobs. Business owners should be learning — not relying (yet) on — this AI tech. But also investing in training too.

2. Managers now rely on AI for hiring and firing

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A new survey by Resume Builder reveals that AI is now deeply embedded in managerial decision-making — especially around hiring, promotions and even terminations. The results showed that 60% of U.S. managers use generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot or Google Gemini to make decisions about their direct reports. When making critical decisions, 78% use AI to determine raises, 77% for promotions, 66% for layoffs and 64% for terminations. The survey also revealed that one in five managers feel comfortable with allowing AI to make final decisions without human input. When asked if AI could replace humans, of the 46% who were asked, 43% did replace a worker with the technology. (Source: Computerworld)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: While AI can boost efficiency, experts warn that it lacks empathy and context, and can reflect biased or flawed data. Without proper oversight, companies risk legal liability and eroding employee trust, Computerworld's Lucas Mearian writes.

3. Intuit introduces QuickBooks Bill Pay

Last month Intuit launched QuickBooks Bill Pay — a fully integrated solution aimed at streamlining business-to-business payments and automating accounts payable for small and midsized businesses. Some of its capabilities include automated bill creation. Businesses can forward their vendor invoices to QuickBooks, which auto-generates bills for review and approval. Flexible payment options allow vendors to be paid via ACH transfers or paper checks. Digital records store bills and payments in one place, improving financial visibility. Transactions are automatically recorded and matched in your books, reducing manual entry up to 48%. QuickBooks Bill Pay has three pricing tiers — Basic (free), Premium and Elite — each offering different levels of ACH payments, automation and team controls. (Source: The Paypers)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: This was inevitable. For years QuickBooks has been integrating with similar services like Bill, which are all great. But now Intuit has decided to offer its own. On the plus side it should ultimately be seamless and easier to integrate. But on the other side products like Bill will offer more features and likely better support, as this is the flagship offering. Regardless, all businesses using QuickBooks should be investigating and implementing automatic bill-paying services to save time and increase productivity. New AI-based features will make these products even more powerful soon.

4. Google's AI can make phone calls for you

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Google rolled out a major upgrade to its Search experience — AI-powered phone calls. The AI calling agent can call local businesses on your behalf based on the query entered in Search. Example: If you search for "pet groomers near me," you'll see an option to "have AI check for availability." Google's assistant will make the calls and summarize the results. It will then ask follow-up questions like when you need the service and how you want to receive updates. (Source: The Verge)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: I do believe that automated phone calls will continue to grow in popularity. Our job as business owners is to be prepared to receive these calls. Will training be required? Will Google offer some way to automatically accept these calls without humans in our companies being involved?

5. Microsoft promises faster Windows 11

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Microsoft is tackling one of Windows 11's biggest complaints: sluggish performance, especially on older PCs. In preview builds, Microsoft collects performance logs when testers experience slowdowns. These logs are stored locally and only sent to Microsoft if users submit feedback via the Facebook hub — "System Sluggishness." By expanding the scope of performance data, Microsoft hopes to pinpoint and fix speed-related issues more effectively. Common pain points include laggy File Explorer and slow search functionality. Microsoft is prioritizing these in its performance initiative. This effort is part of a broader push to make Windows 11 faster and more responsive, especially for users who've found it less snappy than Windows 10. (Source: TechRadar)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: Frankly, I have not heard reports about slow Windows 11 performance from clients using the operating system, but if Microsoft is doing this it's clearly a problem somewhere. Make sure all of your devices are regularly updated to the most recent version of the operating system, and don't ignore notifications that new updates are available.

6. Slack gets smarter with AI

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Slack is stepping up its artificial intelligence game with a suite of new features designed to make workplace communication smoother, smarter and more productive. An AI assistant embedded in Slack Canvas can generate project briefs, extract action items and reformat meeting notes — all from your conversations. Enterprise Search lets connected users search across connected apps like Salesforce, Google Drive and Microsoft Teams from one interface, turning scattered data into actionable insights. Hover over acronyms or jargon and Slack will instantly explain them using your organization's unique vocabulary and history. Slack can also identify and highlight follow-ups and deadlines from messages where you're mentioned. Slack Huddles now include automatic transcript and summaries. (Source: VentureBeat)

Why this is important for your business: According to VentureBeat Salesforce, Slack's parent company is also restricting external AI access to Slack data, betting its native tools will outperform third-party alternatives. If you're relying on Slack for your communications and workflows, it's important that you understand and start testing these new features internally. I strongly recommend getting training from a Slack consultant.

7. OpenAI goes for Microsoft's jugular

Viral ChatGPT Spurs Concerns About Propaganda and Hacking Risks

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OpenAI is reportedly developing its own AI-powered office productivity suite, directly challenging Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. Features reportedly include collaborative document editing, meeting transcription, team chat and tight integration with ChatGPT. Rather than replicating Microsoft's feature-rich apps or Google's collaboration tools, OpenAI may lean into generative AI to reinvent how documents are created and edited collaboratively. This move comes amid rising tensions between OpenAI and Microsoft, despite their deep partnership and Microsoft's $13 billion investment in the AI company. If successful, OpenAI's suite could reshape enterprise software by offering a more fluid, AI-native experience. (Source: Computerworld)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: I've been to this rodeo before. Over the years I've been in the tech industry, countless players — from Facebook to Google — have come and gone trying to replace Microsoft Office with their own solutions. Google has probably had the most success, but even their market share pales when compared to Microsoft's. Maybe OpenAI has a better answer? I'm not hopeful.

8. 10 ways to use Grok 4 that feel like cheating

AI resources platform God of Prompt listed 10 creative ways to use Grok 4 — xAI's large language model — on its X feed. Example tips: Users can build apps and interactive tools without code by describing their idea to Grok and prompting it to design an interactive tool based on the idea. Infographics can be designed from plain text. Prompt: "You are a world-class visual explainer and technical designer. Transform this concept into a visual graphic using a code-based design format." Grok can also perform as a stand-in tutor on a chosen subject by entering a prompt: "You are a world-class private tutor. Teach me [chosen topic] as if I'm a motivated beginner." Next, users can list specific bullet points of subtopics they want to be included in the lesson. For the full list of Grok 4 capabilities, visit the link. (Source: God of Prompt)

Why this is important for your business: Grok 4 has been recently released and well received as a strong alternative to ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and others. I've been using it while on X to provide context and explanations behind posts. But I like the idea of expanding its usage for my business, and these examples give me good ideas.

9. Airwallex and Bill team up on SMB payment solutions

Financial platform Airwallex and cloud-based software Bill have partnered to streamline international payments for small and midsized businesses, aiming to make cross-border transactions faster, cheaper and more efficient. (Source: The Paypers)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: According to the two companies, the integration enables same-day or next-day international payments in local currencies, reducing delays and reliance on intermediary banks. Businesses can schedule foreign exchange conversions and payouts, improving control and reconciliation of international transactions. Airwallex's infrastructure allows Bill customers to transact directly with overseas banks, making payments feel local even when they're global. The collaboration is designed to give SMBs the kind of global payment agility that was once only available to large enterprises.

10. The Google for Startups Gemini kit is here

Google released its Startups Gemini AI Kit — a free, all-in-one toolkit designed to help startups quickly adopt and scale AI using Google's Gemini models. The kit provides instant access to Gemini API via Google AI Studio, full-stack development tools like Firebase Studio to build and launch real apps, and up to $350,000 in Google Cloud credits through the Google for Startups Cloud Program. Developer resources include the Gemini API Cookbook and extensive documentation. Additionally, developers are offered training and support through Google Cloud Skills Boost, immersive workshops and live sessions. This initiative is part of Google's broader push to make cutting-edge AI accessible and practical for entrepreneurs. (Source: Google)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: This is great, assuming your startup employs a $150,000 per-year, full-stack developer. This stuff didn't exist even a year ago and now even the smallest of businesses can take advantage of tools to create their own AI solutions. But just know this isn't something you simply download and implement. It's a development project.