The fact that both Intuit and Wolters Kluwer (which markets the CCH line) reacted to questions recently with "we've been doing this for years" suggests Block has made an impact with its claims. Xero says the new technology means that the software will learn to perform such tasks as recording invoices against the proper account via its use of statistical analysis. I asked Randy Johnston, the well-known industry consultant, about machine learning in general. He commented that most implementations have not been true machine learning but were what he called "classifications". He had not, at that point, tested the Xero package but was to do so soon.