For years, conversations about AI in finance have been shaped by a familiar worry: will automation take accounting jobs? It’s a question AP teams have heard repeatedly as technology has matured. But the data from the recent AI Momentum Report suggests the narrative is shifting, and quickly.

Vic.ai conducted a survey of nearly 800 finance and AP professionals to gauge their perspectives on AI use, adoption, and sentiment. A clear majority of survey respondents (64%) say they view AI as a productivity enhancer or digital assistant, not a threat to headcount. Only a very small fraction — just 5% — see AI as a replacement for existing roles. What’s emerging instead is a picture of AI as a working partner inside AP: a system that handles routine tasks so people can focus on the exceptions, context, and decisions that still require human judgment.

This key finding from the survey represents a meaningful change in sentiment. And it comes not from theory, but from experience.

From “replacement” to “co-worker”

As organizations adopt AI (72% of survey respondents report using some form of AI in their AP or finance workflows) the fear of job loss appears to fade. This is especially true among those who have already implemented AI-driven tools. Leaders, in particular, tend to see AI as an accelerant: something that reduces friction in the work rather than the need for people.

Open-ended responses in the survey reinforce this. AP teams repeatedly describe how AI has shifted the mix of responsibilities, not the headcount:

• Routine data entry and invoice capture now happen automatically.
  
• Teams spend more time validating exceptions, not processing every invoice.
  
• Analysis, forecasting, and vendor communication now receive more attention.

As one respondent put it: “AI tools reduced manual tasks and improved accuracy in our finance workflow. The team now spends time on analysis instead of entry.”

Another noted simply: “Less manual work, more focus on analysis.”

This progression — from processing to reviewing, from clerical tasks to analytical ones — is showing up across AP organizations at different stages of adoption.

Why sentiment is changing

1. Teams are finally seeing AI’s benefits firsthand.

Many AP teams have now lived through the early deployment stages, where the impact is most immediately felt: fewer keystrokes, fewer errors, faster cycles. Among organizations already using AI:

• 50% have seen faster invoice processing.
  
• 46% report faster approvals.
  
• Accuracy and error reduction were among the most frequently mentioned benefits in open responses.

These improvements don’t eliminate jobs — they eliminate repetitive tasks. And teams notice the difference. Comments like “the work is much more streamlined,” “everything flows faster,” and “we no longer work late or on weekends” appeared often in the qualitative survey data.

2. Oversight remains central, reinforcing trust.

Even as AI tools grow more capable, AP teams continue to see themselves as the final checkpoint. Nearly all respondents (91%) say they expect some form of human review over AI outputs, whether reviewing everything or reviewing only exceptions.

That expectation helps counter the idea that AI is “taking over.” Instead, it becomes clear that AI is handling volume while humans maintain control. That balance appears to play a major role in the growing comfort with AI.

3. Familiarity reduces uncertainty.

A notable pattern in the data is that the organizations furthest along in AI adoption are also the most confident in it. Operational-stage organizations, for example, show:

• The highest confidence in their financial data.
  
• The strongest leadership support.
  
• The highest reported understanding of AI in AP.

In other words, experience breeds clarity. Once teams see how AI interacts with their workflows, assumptions give way to practical understanding.

How work is actually changing inside AP

One of the most consistent themes across the qualitative responses is the shift in how AP professionals spend their time. AI isn’t making roles disappear; rather, it’s reshaping what those roles look like. 

Teams mentioned moving into responsibilities such as:

• Oversight of flagged transactions
  
• Process optimization
  
• Supporting compliance and audit
  
• Reviewing anomalies and exceptions
  
• Vendor communications or escalations
  
• Data-driven analysis that previously wasn’t feasible

This shift isn’t dramatic or disruptive. It’s incremental. But across hundreds of responses, the pattern is unmistakable: AI is expanding the share of work that relies on judgment and context, and reducing the share that relies on repetition.

Some respondents even underscored how this shift has changed morale:

“Everybody is happier with technology upgrades.”
“It takes a huge stress off employees’ backs.”
“Workers can focus on other tasks—it's lightened the load.”

It doesn’t mean every organization has perfected the balance; a small number still expressed concern about long-term implications for staffing or compliance oversight. But those responses were outnumbered significantly by teams describing smoother workflows and more meaningful work.

A more grounded narrative for the future of AP

The data from this year’s survey points to a clearer, more grounded narrative about AI in AP. It’s not the story of replacement or disruption that dominated early public conversation. It’s the story of a function that is modernizing: slowly, practically, and with humans still firmly involved in every decision that matters.

The reality emerging inside AP teams is that:

• AI handles volume and pattern recognition.
  
• Humans validate, decide, and guide.
  
• The work shifts upward: from entry to exceptions, from reacting to analyzing.
  
• Teams that use AI most actively also trust it the most.

Rather than replacing the AP role, AI is redefining it in a way that aligns with how finance teams already operate: carefully, collaboratively, and with an emphasis on accuracy and oversight.

This year’s findings make it clear that the “AI vs. jobs” narrative no longer reflects how AP teams think or work. Instead, AI is becoming part of the team, quietly taking on the pieces of the process that people don’t have time for, and strengthening the parts that people do best.

Access the complete AI Momentum Report for all key findings.