Virtual Dave

Contributors - Alhagie Boye, Muhammad Alliyu, Vamsi Sudersanam, Sukhbir Singh

Virtual Dave is an AI-powered CPA assistant that helps Dave's clients get instant, professional financial advice 24/7. Using Dave's recorded videos as training data, the system creates a digital twin that can answer tax questions, provide accounting guidance, and various content generation forms e.g blog posts, social media posts, etc. - all in Dave's authentic voice and personality. We studied Dave's sentiment, tone, and expressive style from his videos and distilled those traits into a custom OpenAI agent that drives both the chat and content generation. This project was developed during MSOE's AI Club Spring 2025 Innovation Lab to solve the real problem of busy CPAs who can't be available to every client at every moment.

The Problem

When clients need immediate help with tax questions, accounting issues, or financial planning, they have to wait for Dave to be available. But Dave is a busy CPA who can't be available 24/7 to answer every client question, especially during tax season when demand is highest. This creates several challenges:

• • Clients wait hours or days for answers to urgent questions
• • Dave can only handle so many consultations per day
• • Simple questions take up valuable consultation time
• • Client satisfaction suffers due to long response times

The Core Challenge: How can we create an AI system that captures Dave's CPA knowledge, communication style, and personality to provide instant, professional financial advice to clients when Dave himself is unavailable?

Why It Matters?

In the CPA world, every minute counts. Clients need fast, accurate answers to financial questions like: "Can I deduct my home office expenses?" or "What's new in 2024 tax laws?". Answering these quickly:

• • Speeds up client decision-making and tax planning
• • Reduces the need for expensive consultation time for simple questions
• • Unlocks value from Dave's decades of CPA expertise
• • Supports client growth without compromising service quality

This project aimed to build a tool that makes CPA advice instant and reliable.

Our Solution

Chat with Virtual Dave for instant CPA advice:

• • Tax advice and deduction guidance
• • Accounting principles and compliance help
• • Financial planning and business strategy
• • All responses in Dave's authentic voice and personality

Generate content in Dave's voice and style:

• • Video scripts for educational content and client communications
• • Blog posts on tax updates, accounting tips, and financial strategies
• • Voiceovers using Dave's cloned voice for videos and presentations
• • Content ideas generation for blog posts, social media posts, etc.
• • Social media posts (reels, tweets, etc.) that match Dave's expertise

This dual approach bypasses the need for waiting or time-consuming searches AND enables Dave to maintain an active online presence without spending hours on content creation.

How We Built It

• • Data Preparation:
  We worked with Dave's recorded video calls, using AI analysis to extract speech patterns, communication style, and CPA knowledge to train our language models.
• • Sentiment & Style Analysis:
  We performed sentiment analysis, tone profiling, and expression/style extraction to capture Dave's personality (e.g., directness, empathy, confidence), which informs the agent's response style.
• • Custom OpenAI Agent:
  We built a custom OpenAI agent with guardrails, system prompts, and style constraints derived from Dave's sentiment/style profile to power both chat and content generation.
• • Modeling:
  We fine-tuned prompts and used retrieval-augmented techniques on Dave's notes and tax laws to ensure accurate, context-aware CPA answers.
• • Voice Cloning:
  Using ElevenLabs' advanced voice cloning technology, we created a digital voice that replicates Dave's natural speaking patterns and tone for voiceovers and audio content.
• • Content Generation Pipeline:
  Built AI workflows that generate video scripts, blog posts, and social media content in Dave's authentic voice and writing style, governed by the custom agent.
• • Dual Interface:
  We designed a React-based web interface that allows both client chat interactions and content generation for Dave, all powered by Dave's digital twin.

Results

Our AI chat assistant and content generation pipeline achieved:

• • Instant CPA advice that was indistinguishable from Dave's authentic responses
• • 24/7 availability for client questions and guidance
• • Consistent expertise and personality across all client interactions
• • Reduced client wait times from hours/days to immediate responses
• • Content generation in Dave's voice and style

Instead of manually waiting for Dave to be available, clients can now receive fast and reliable CPA advice, allowing them to get answers quicker, reduce uncertainty, and leverage the full potential of Dave's expertise around the clock. Content generation in Dave's voice and style is a game changer for Dave's business.