Study shows AI can pass the hardest CFA exam — but is it ready to do your taxes?

AI is everywhere – from viral trends and topping the leaderboards for reasoning tests to now passing one of the toughest finance exams in the world.

A new study from NYU Stern and AI wealth-management startup GoodFin put 23 AI models through their paces on Level III of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam. For those unfamiliar, this is widely regarded as the most difficult stage.

Shockingly, several models passed with ease, finishing the test in just minutes, using advanced prompting techniques.

Here are the models that passed the CFA exam

The researchers tested a mix of new and older large language models (LLMs). Using chain-of-thought prompting, meaning the AI explains its reasoning every step of the way. Here’s how some of the top models performed: • OpenAI o4-mini — Passed