The Educator Pack

The Educator Pack

The Educator Pack

Where AI Fits: Part 1 by Roberto Gonzales, CPA, PhD, is a 50-some page book, written in plain English, on making AI useful in everyday life. Half is a first-generation story from the cotton fields to the classroom; half is a hands-on method built on ideas accounting educators already teach: process, controls, documentation, and knowing when to trust a result. It reads in one afternoon and costs $9.99, so it works as an assigned reading without burdening students.

Three ways to use it

1. The book report. A short assigned reading giving students a modern, plain-language perspective on where their degree fits in the AI era. Works in introductory accounting, audit, AIS, and business technology courses.

2. The controls conversation. Pair Chapters 7 through 12 with an internal controls or audit unit. The book restates prevention, detection, and mitigation, segregation of duties, documentation, and verification as everyday AI habits, which lets students discover that the AI governance conversation is an accounting conversation.

3. The lab. Chapter 12 is a build: students construct the folder-and-context-file system on their own computers in one afternoon and submit their master context file. It is a hands-on assignment that costs nothing and produces a system they keep.

Drop-in assignment text

Reading response, Where AI Fits: Part 1 (2 pages max). Read the book, then answer: (1) The author argues that the habits that make AI trustworthy are older than computers. Identify three controls in the book and name their classic internal control equivalents. (2) The author claims the accounting mindset is an advantage in the AI era. Make the strongest version of his argument, then the strongest argument against it. (3) Complete the Chapter 12 build and attach your master context file. What did you choose as your house rules, and why?

Ten discussion questions

  1. The book wants AI to become like electricity: everywhere and invisible. What would auditing look like in that world?
  2. Which of the book's house rules (never overwrite, never delete, private stays private) maps to which COSO component?
  3. The author requires the AI to restate the project, ask questions, and wait for approval before acting. Which control concepts is that prompt quietly implementing?
  4. "Trust is fine. Verification is policy." Is that a workable standard for AI use in a firm? What would it cost?
  5. If two AI agents work on the same files, what could go wrong, and what is the accounting-course answer to preventing it?
  6. The author says the second opinion is also a source that must be verified. Who audits the auditor when the auditor is software?
  7. The book insists the method must work with free tools. Why does accessibility matter to the profession's future, and to the pipeline?
  8. Version control in the book is "highest number is the truth." When does that rule fail, and what would you add?
  9. The author keeps a "lessons" file of mistakes. How does that habit relate to audit documentation standards?
  10. Where does AI fit in the career you are planning? What stays human on purpose?

Questions, class ideas, or feedback: use the contact page. This pack is free to copy and share.