Your doctor's AI notetaker may be making things up, Ontario audit finds

[Pobeka]

7. My cardiologist used an AI assist to summarize my visit for the first time on the last visit.

I understand the rationale -- the physician can focus on the conversation with the patient instead of typing notes.

The pressure from management is probably trying to get one extra patient per day in the door.

I never had an issue with the appointment notes -- I have a very good cardiologist -- she has always got it right.

... until the AI assisted write up. AI has no idea about context, it merely flagged a keyword that it "heard", completely out of context and indicated we had a discussion that we didn't actually have. My cardiologist didn't catch it. My view is she wouldn't have written erroneous comment in the first place had she been directly typing in notes.

I worry about health professionals, young or old. Proofreading is hard. So easy to get distracted and lose focus, while the words presented to the right brain make enough sense to sound correct, but actually are incorrect.