A generative AI experience that helps tax professionals resolve complex research questions with synthesized, citation-backed answers grounded in trusted Checkpoint content.
$13.7M
in AI sales
37% over $10M goal
NPS 53
AI practice areas
vs. 23 for Checkpoint
~80%
adoption intent
would use immediately
93%
Synergy 2023
interested in AI
01 STRATEGIC CONTEXT — THOMSON REUTERS’ GENAI VISION
Checkpoint Edge AI-Assisted Research is part of Thomson Reuters’ broader commitment to competitive differentiation through a generative AI platform — presented at the Thomson Reuters Leadership Conference 2024.
Our Vision for Generative AI — “Bring It On.” Thomson Reuters Leadership Conference 2024.
2023: The Evolution of AI at Thomson Reuters
From the launch of ChatGPT through Westlaw Precision CoCounsel
- GenAI Platform launch.
- Launch of ChatGPT — Inflection point
- Microsoft Partnership
- Casetext Acquisition
- AI Strategy & Thought Leadership — Internal alignment
- Future of Professionals — Research & Survey
- Synergy & AI Strategy — Customer Conference
- Westlaw Precision CoCounsel GenAI Platform Launch
The launch of ChatGPT in 2023 forced a rapid organizational pivot. Thomson Reuters rethought customer expectations, resource allocation, and product priorities across every segment. The resulting strategy rests on three pillars:
- Domain expertise first — Built on decades of proprietary content, editorial knowledge, and deep understanding of professional workflows.
- Right data, right access — Connected to the right public, proprietary, and partner data sources to ground AI responses in trusted authority.
- Secure and reliable by design — Engineered for trust, so professionals can confidently act on AI-generated outputs without second-guessing the source
“Competitive differentiation via generative AI platform”
The platform vision: a single AI assistant that surfaces skills across Checkpoint, Westlaw, Practical Law, and more — giving professionals access to all the capability they need in one unified experience.
02 THE CHALLENGE
Tax and accounting professionals faced a labor-intensive research process when answering complex questions under deadline pressure, resulting in lost productivity, slower client response times, and reduced capacity for advisory work.
We needed to deliver trusted, citation-backed answers faster through Checkpoint Edge’s AI-Assistant — reducing research friction while improving retention, lowering support burden, and protecting revenue in a market where demand for AI-enabled tax workflows was surging.
Market Signal: Thomson Reuters’ 2023 Future of Professionals survey found that 68% of tax & accounting respondents believed generative AI could be applied to tax work, with tax research as the #1 use case. 39% of firms already using or planning GenAI expected rollout within six months.
At Synergy 2023, early concept testing reinforced this urgency: 93% of attendees who tested AI concepts said they were interested in using them, and the Checkpoint AI Assistant drew the most engagement — 63% of all survey responses. Attribute ratings for relevance, accuracy, clarity, and coverage all exceeded 4.0 out of 5.
03 THE SOLUTION
In 2024, the Checkpoint design team delivered AI-Assisted Research — a generative AI experience that helps tax professionals resolve complex research questions with synthesized, citation-backed answers grounded in trusted Checkpoint content.
Core Design Decisions
Natural-language question entry — A conversational input flow replacing complex keyword-based search; users ask exactly the way they’d ask a colleague.
Side-by-side citations — Inline citation markers linked to a supporting materials panel, increasing trust, enabling rapid verification, and mitigating hallucination concerns.
Saffron design system adoption — Modernized the Checkpoint Edge UI for visual consistency across all Thomson Reuters products.
Iterative UX testing — Regular usability studies to validate the 2-panel workspace approach (answers alongside source material) through continuous research cycles.
Follow-up question suggestions — Suggested related queries to help users deepen and extend their research sessions naturally.
Launched to Customers
Federal AI-Assisted Research — Launched July 2024 — conversational Q&A with inline citations, delivery options (copy/print/export), and follow-up suggestions.
State AI-Assisted Research — Launched October 2024 — extended the full AI experience to State practice areas.
Updated Federal & State landing pages — Redesigned orientation for AI feature discoverability across both practice areas.
Topic Pages — Introduced subject-matter drill-down for overarching tax topics, including typeahead search (G7 request).
Cited source deep-linking — Clicking a cited source opens the document and scrolls directly to the cited passage in Checkpoint’s document view.
In Progress / Upcoming
Stickied follow-up question — Persistent follow-up prompt driven by research feedback to support iterative sessions.
Client memo generation — Generate a client letter or internal memo directly from AI-Assisted Research results.
Find a document — Natural-language queries to locate specific primary law documents on Checkpoint.
04 THE OUTCOME
Checkpoint Edge AI-Assisted Research launched for Federal tax in July 2024 and State tax in October 2024 — with consistently strong, growing adoption across both practice areas.
Metric
Sales (TAP + Corporates)
Net Promoter Score
User Satisfaction
Adoption Intent
Synergy 2023 Beta Interest
Result
$13.7M — surpassing $10M year-end goal by 37%
53 (vs. 23 for Checkpoint Edge overall)
~80% responded ‘very’ or ‘somewhat satisfied’
~80% said they’d use the tool immediately if available
93% of testers interested — relevance 4.32, accuracy 4.22 out of 5
UX Research Highlights
Intuitive, low-friction experience — Users found the tool easy to use and highly efficient for starting complex research tasks.
Trust through transparency — AI-generated responses praised for clarity, relevance, and trustworthiness — especially when backed by cited, navigable sources.
Meaningful impact at the research entry point — Simplified search, faster trusted results, and reduced manual effort made a measurable difference in early-phase research
05 WHAT USERS SAID
Customer Feedback — Thomson Reuters Leadership Conference 2024
“Saved me a ton of time.”
“Decreases my research time drastically.”
“Great launching point for future research.”
“It is amazing.”
“An essential tool.”
“Huge time-saver.”
“Goes beyond answering the specific question asked.”
“The way of the future.”
“Gives me a competitive advantage.”
“Much more helpful than I had anticipated.”
“Nothing short of amazing.”
“LOVE this new tool!”
Refrain: “Game-Changer.” Repeated by multiple Synergy 2023 testers.
Synergy 2023 — In Their Own Words
“I think it is really nice that it clearly shows what sources the assistant pulls the answer from and gives related content.”
— Tax professional, Synergy 2023
“We would like to test this in our firm.”
— Tax professional, Synergy 2023
“Chat functionality and predictive inquiries would be helpful — need to be able to refine results.”
— Tax professional, Synergy 2023
“Exciting” was the most common one-word descriptor from 65 professionals surveyed at Synergy 2023, followed by “innovative,” “efficient,” and “time saving.”
06 THE LEGACY
From AI-Assisted Research to CoCounsel Tax
The success of Checkpoint Edge AI-Assisted Research extended far beyond its initial launch. What began as a standalone AI-powered research experience has now become part of the broader CoCounsel ecosystem, advancing Thomson Reuters’ vision of a unified AI platform for professionals.
Today, the capabilities pioneered through Checkpoint Edge AI-Assisted Research are available through CoCounsel Tax, giving tax and accounting professionals access to trusted research, AI-powered analysis, and workflow support through a single AI assistant experience.
This evolution validates the original strategy behind the product: combining Thomson Reuters’ authoritative content, domain expertise, and generative AI capabilities to help professionals work faster, make better decisions, and deliver greater value to their clients.
What started as an innovative AI research experience has become a foundational component of the CoCounsel platform—creating a more seamless customer experience, accelerating AI adoption across tax and accounting workflows, and positioning Thomson Reuters as a leader in AI-powered professional solutions.
Today, Checkpoint Edge AI-Assisted Research lives on as part of CoCounsel Tax, helping shape the future of tax and accounting work.
Learn more: https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/en/products/cocounsel-tax