Editor's Note:Drew Murphy is the co-founder of FP&HEY, a virtual community for FP&A practitioners. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

If you're in Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) and are resistant to artificial intelligence (AI)—whether due to a fear of being left behind (FOBO, fear of becoming obsolete) or simply skepticism—you might be in for a rude awakening. Because in this acronym-filled career path, your future prospects depend on your attitude toward AI.

Of course, AI has been steadily developing over the past few years, and the release of ChatGPT has pushed it to new heights. This revolutionary tool has already helped many FP&A professionals save time and improve the quality of their work. For example, some FP&A analysts, managers, and executives have started using ChatGPT to draft frameworks for standard operating procedures, presentations, and emails, create personal development learning plans, or get answers to specific modeling questions.

However, among the FP&A professionals I've interacted with, more than half have no idea how to harness the power of AI. It's time for us to wake up and take AI seriously.

Here's a brain teaser: In your daily FP&A work, do you use computers, the internet, or large databases? If you don't, you'd better keep quiet about it, because it's safe to say that those who do use these tools may quickly surpass you. Computers have been around for decades, and it's these technological advancements that gave rise to the FP&A profession.

Just over 30 years ago, not all business professionals used computers. The internet entered mainstream corporate offices in the 1990s, followed by the rise of big data in the early 2000s. Remember when Excel could only handle 65,536 rows of data in 2006? Now Excel allows you to analyze datasets of over a million rows, and other technologies can handle a thousand times more data than that.

Today, office phones have been replaced by email and video conferencing, and library research has been replaced by Google searches. None of these technological advancements were passing fads—they changed the way people work. These technological advancements didn't destroy jobs; they transformed the work itself. If you failed to adapt, you were likely replaced by those who did.

For those who haven't embraced AI yet, here's the good news: You're probably already using AI without realizing it (surprise!). This means there's still hope for you to fully integrate into the AI wave. When you enjoy spell check correcting your errors and suggesting words, what is that? That's AI (we knew you liked it all along). AI is already saving you time in both work and daily life. More examples of AI include in-car navigation apps, facial recognition on your phone, and Google search. Since you're already using AI, does that mean you won't lose your job to someone who adopts AI? Not quite, because you're only scratching the surface of AI, like having a high-end computer but only using it to play solitaire.

Do your homework: Look for books, podcasts, andwebsites like oursto learn about AI applications in FP&A and daily life. Start simple: A great starting point is ChatGPT, the wildly popular AI tool today. ChatGPT is free, works similarly to Google search, and can lay the foundation for your own AI revolution. Use it responsibly, just like you use the internet.

So, don't be afraid. You still have time to learn AI and future-proof your FP&A career.