How Intuit is building an AI-driven platform – with a dash of astrophysics

Nhung Ho, vice president of artificial intelligence at Intuit, enters the BBC's Executive Lounge to talk about finding data-driven answers in the dark, and how it's never too late to innovate.

When Nhung Ho moved from Vietnam to the US, aged five, she struggled with English. Then, in grade two, her universe expanded. "My teacher opened up a big picture book about astronomy. And I don't what it was, but it just clicked. It was like I was in love," she tells the BBC. "And I actually learned English by reading astronomy books." 

The moment eventually led her to a PhD in astrophysics from Yale University, where she completed her doctoral thesis on the evolution of dwarf galaxies. But after 20 years of chasing the stars, Ho decided to take her career in a different direction: data science.

She knows her career journey isn't typical, but she sees a strong parallel between the two disciplines. "My ion is for solving non-obvious problems using simple techniques with vast amounts of data," she says. 

This approach is what landed her at American multinational financial-software company Intuit, where she is the vice president of artificial intelligence. Working across the firm's suite of personal-finance and small-business software, including QuickBooks and TurboTax, Ho has been a driving force in evolving AI from a niche department to the core of Intuit's future strategy. The company is committed to becoming an "AI-driven expert platform" – connecting millions of customers and small-business owners to a fully customised, tech-driven experience.

Ho is leading the charge – and the skills that made her successful as an astrophysicist are the same ones she uses now. More than anything, it's following the story the data tells, even if it means challenging your own assumptions.

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