An AI can ask everything required to complete a personal tax return, far faster than the conventional process.

Each year the tax return arrives like an unwelcome relative — full of questions, in no hurry to leave. This year I sat an assistant across the desk and let it conduct the interview, asking everything the form requires, in order. The wager is that being asked is faster than being lost.

Running. The assistant has asked me things my own accountant never thought to, which is either thorough or alarming.