KPMG Uses AI Simulation Tool To Train Tax Workers Faster Than Years Of Experience

KPMG US is deploying an AI-powered simulation tool called TaxSIM to accelerate the training of its 10,000 tax professionals, addressing a critical challenge as artificial intelligence increasingly automates the repetitive tasks that once built expertise in the field.

The initiative, announced by Brad Brown, KPMG’s chief digital officer for tax, aims to replace years of hands-on tax return preparation—the traditional pathway to developing judgment—with high-volume, high-speed simulations. Before AI, junior tax professionals typically spent about four years preparing client returns to build the analytical skills needed to advise on complex tax strategies. With AI handling more routine work, the company is testing TaxSIM to replicate that learning curve in a fraction of the time.

“You’re not going to get as many repetitions of doing that task as you would have in the past,” Brown said. “So we needed something to fill that void.”

The software, developed in partnership with Centaurian AI, presents tax professionals with simulated client scenarios, offering real-time feedback on their decision-making. Kes Sampanthar, cofounder and CEO of Centaurian AI and a former KPMG employee, compared the approach to training methods used in high-performance sports, where athletes refine skills through repetitive, feedback-driven practice.

“It’s like the top athlete who gets better and better if they can get the right feedback,” Sampanthar said. “Learning happens when things are hard, not when things are easy.”

TaxSIM is designed to help users work through complex tax situations—such as the impact of tariffs on multinational organizations—before turning to AI for assistance. The tool also encourages junior staffers to engage with broader concepts, such as economic shifts and regulatory changes, which are harder to encounter in real-world client work.

Brown emphasized that the tool is not meant to replace hands-on experience entirely but to supplement it. “A first-year tax analyst recently told me about wanting to build their first valuation model by hand before learning through simulation,” he said. “Their thinking was, ‘It’s OK to do one or two, but I don’t need to do four years of these to get to that level of skill.'”

The rollout of TaxSIM to KPMG’s tax workforce later this year marks a broader industry shift as AI reshapes white-collar professions. Firms are grappling with how to maintain human expertise when AI automates the foundational tasks that once required years of practice. KPMG’s approach suggests that the future of professional development may lie in blending AI-driven simulations with targeted hands-on experience.

For tax professionals, the tool could accelerate career progression by sharpening analytical skills more quickly. Brown noted that the ability to collaborate with AI—rather than compete against it—will be key. “Workers who can use AI alongside their judgment and analytic skills will be most successful,” he said.

The move reflects a growing trend in professional services, where firms are investing in technology not just to improve efficiency but to preserve and enhance human expertise in an AI-augmented world.