The Human Algorithm: Baker Tilly Bets on AI to Augment, Not Automate, Expertise

SAN FRANCISCO – July 20, 2026 – In a move that signals a significant maturation in the enterprise adoption of artificial intelligence, advisory and accounting giant Baker Tilly today announced a major initiative with Ode with Anthropic (Ode). The partnership aims to weave advanced AI deep into the fabric of its advisory, tax, and assurance businesses, focusing not on replacing human judgment, but on amplifying it.

This collaboration moves beyond the standard automation tools that have become table stakes in the professional services industry. Instead of simply offloading repetitive tasks, Baker Tilly intends to build sophisticated AI systems that are infused with its proprietary methodologies and deep domain knowledge. The goal is to create a new class of digital assistants that work alongside its professionals, enhancing their ability to navigate the complex, judgment-intensive work that defines their value to clients.

“At Baker Tilly, we are investing in AI to strengthen how our people deliver the complex, judgment-intensive work our clients trust us to do,” said Eric Miles, CEO of Baker Tilly. “Working with Ode gives us additional technical depth and speed as we build AI capabilities around our professionals, methodologies and standards, with a focus on enhancing quality, insight and responsiveness for clients.”

The AI-Augmented Professional

The initiative represents a deliberate strategy to create the “AI-augmented professional.” For Baker Tilly, this isn't a first foray into artificial intelligence but a significant escalation. The firm has already integrated AI into specific service lines, partnering with agentic AI platform Fieldguide to enhance its risk advisory and assurance delivery and with Basis to automate core accounting workflows. This new, broader initiative with Ode, however, aims to create a more holistic and deeply integrated AI ecosystem.

The core of the strategy lies in moving past the limitations of standard automation. In the nuanced worlds of tax law, audit assurance, and strategic advisory, context and professional judgment are paramount. The partnership will leverage Ode's expertise in deploying Anthropic’s frontier AI models to build systems that can understand and apply Baker Tilly’s specific frameworks. This could manifest as AI co-pilots that help auditors analyze vast datasets with greater accuracy, tax professionals navigate intricate regulatory changes with predictive insights, or consultants model complex business scenarios with unprecedented speed.

This “people-first” approach is critical. Rather than seeing AI as a replacement for its workforce, the firm is positioning it as a force multiplier—a tool that frees up its brightest minds from rote data processing to focus on strategic analysis, client relationships, and creative problem-solving. It’s a vision where technology handles the 'what,' allowing humans to concentrate on the 'why' and 'what's next.'

Ode and the New Architects of Enterprise AI

At the center of this transformation is Ode with Anthropic, a new and formidable player in the AI landscape. Formally launched in 2026, Ode was created to solve what many call the “last-mile crisis” in enterprise AI: the immense difficulty of moving powerful models from experimental sandboxes into the core workflows of large, complex organizations.

Backed by a consortium of heavyweight investors including Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman, Ode operates a unique model. It embeds elite AI engineers directly within client organizations to structurally rewire their operations around AI. This hands-on approach is designed to overcome the implementation friction that stalls so many ambitious AI projects.

“The future of professional services will be shaped by firms that successfully combine AI with deep domain expertise,” said Chris Taylor, CEO of Ode. “Baker Tilly is building AI systems around the expertise of its professionals to enhance the client experience.”

Ode’s emergence, powered by an estimated $1.5 billion in initial capital, signals a broader industry shift. The focus is moving from simply building the most powerful AI models to creating the specialized services required to deploy them effectively. For a firm like Baker Tilly, partnering with Ode provides a crucial shortcut, granting them access not only to Anthropic's cutting-edge Claude models but also to the rare engineering talent needed to make them work in a highly regulated and specialized environment.

Redefining Value in a Competitive Arena

Baker Tilly's strategic investment does not happen in a vacuum. The entire professional services industry is in the midst of an AI arms race. The “Big Four” firms—Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG—have collectively pledged billions to develop proprietary AI platforms, train their massive workforces, and forge their own strategic alliances. PwC has deployed tens of thousands of internal AI agents, while EY plans to scale to 100,000 by 2028.

In this hyper-competitive landscape, Baker Tilly's partnership with Ode is a calculated move to differentiate. By focusing on the deep integration of its own methodologies, the firm aims to create a defensible moat built on quality and specialized insight. The goal is to transform the client experience by delivering not just faster answers, but better ones. For clients, this could mean more proactive advice, quicker access to decision-ready insights, and a level of service consistency that is difficult to achieve at scale.

This initiative underscores a critical truth: in the modern economy, AI is rapidly becoming a baseline capability. The true competitive advantage will not come from simply having AI, but from how intelligently and intentionally it is woven into an organization's unique value proposition. By betting on augmentation over automation, Baker Tilly is making a clear statement about where it believes that value lies: in the irreplaceable judgment of its human experts, now supercharged with artificial intelligence.