Hacker News: Extracting financial disclosure and police reports with OpenAI Structured Output

Source URL: https://gist.github.com/dannguyen/faaa56cebf30ad51108a9fe4f8db36d8
Source: Hacker News
Title: Extracting financial disclosure and police reports with OpenAI Structured Output

Feedly Summary: Comments

AI Summary and Description: Yes

**Summary:** The provided text details a demonstration of OpenAI’s GPT-4o-mini model for extracting structured data from financial disclosure reports and police blotter narratives. This showcases how AI can effectively parse unstructured documents into defined, structured formats using minimal effort, highlighting advancements in AI capabilities, particularly in data gathering from public documents. The tool offers potential for professionals involved in data management, particularly in compliance and regulatory frameworks that require structured data extraction from documentation.

**Detailed Description:** The text elaborates on the capabilities of OpenAI’s API, particularly the introduction of Structured Outputs for efficient data extraction. This is critical for security and compliance professionals who deal with large-scale data gathering and documentation analysis. Here are the major points:

– **Structured Outputs Feature:** The new feature allows users to define specific data schemas for extraction, ensuring that the output is formatted correctly in JSON. This is particularly useful for handling complex data requirements typical in financial disclosures and police reports.

– **Demonstration of Use Cases:** Two concrete applications were demonstrated:
– **Financial Disclosure Reports:**
– Extraction from PDF documents, traditionally challenging due to the need for custom parsing methods.
– Pydantic library was used to define a data model that the API utilizes to extract relevant information meticulously.
– **Police Blotter Narratives:**
– Demonstrates extraction from narrative text, where data structure is more loosely defined.
– Highlights potential challenges in accurately extracting incidents when data is presented in a non-standard format.

– **Examples of Data Models Used:**
– The text outlines specific classes designed using Pydantic, like `Asset` and `Incident`, to define expected fields and their data types for structured extraction. This aids in setting clear expectations for data quality and integrity.

– **Accuracy and Limitations:**
– The API shows a significant capacity for inferring data fields correctly, even when instructions are minimal.
– Some challenges persist, particularly in more complicated narrative fields, where human judgment is often required to determine context correctly (e.g., identifying victims versus perpetrators).

– **Practical Implications for Security and Compliance:**
– The capability to automate data extraction can enhance workflows for compliance professionals dealing with extensive financial disclosures and police archives.
– Ensures accurate data gathering for regulatory reporting, potentially reducing the risk of human error in data interpretation and entry.

– **Recommendation for Future Use:**
– Suggests running the code and utilizing the API for various documentation needs.
– Encourages further refinement in defining more complex data schemas to strengthen the accuracy of extracted information.

Overall, the efficacy of this tool points to a transformative shift in how structured data can be gathered and analyzed, presenting substantial efficiencies for professionals across various sectors dealing with compliance, legal documentation, and data management obligations.