AI scribes failing to capture 'vital information' when generating medical notes, research suggests

Artificial intelligence (AI) used by doctors to generate medical notes is failing to capture “potentially vital information” conveyed by patients using gestures and facial expressions, researchers suggest.

While many medics are “excited” about so-called AI scribes, given their potential to slash paperwork, the “experiences of patients are poorly considered”, experts said.

Ambient voice technology programmes use generative AI and speech recognition to convert speech into structured medical notes.

They are designed to save doctors’ time and allow them to focus more on the patient.

A new review by researchers at the University of Edinburgh analysed 27 articles exploring the adoption of AI scribes and the implications of their rollout.

The study highlights that these programmes capture spoken words only, and can miss gestures, facial expressions and the tone in which patients or doctors are speaking.

Researchers described the tools as having a “written language bias”.

“They convert spoken consultations into text and then process the interaction as a textual record,” they added.

“Ambient scribes cannot capture the potentially vital information a clinician can glean from gestures, facial expressions, movement and emotional affect.”

Experts also suggest that patients may “adapt their behaviour” in front of AI, and a “lack of trust may lead to less disclosure”.

Dr Lucas Seuren, Gail fellow and research fellow at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society, said: “Many clinicians are excited about ambient AI scribes, because they promise to cut down on paperwork.

“But the experiences of patients are poorly considered, and there are real risks that the patients’ stories are lost.

“This can further disadvantage people who already face marginalisation in health and social care services.”

The findings, published in BMJ Digital Health and AI, highlight that the technology may “require careful adaptation to clinical and health system contexts”, and “their implementation may reshape how health and care work is organised and performed”.

Researchers said the “enthusiasm surrounding ambient scribes has driven widespread adoption”.

It is estimated that up to four in ten GPs in the UK are using AI scribes.

However, most studies have focused on benefits to productivity and technological performance, while “sociotechnical dimensions of adoption have been neglected”, researchers said.

“Ambient scribes are complex interventions with the potential to reshape clinical work, documentation practices and the organisation of care.

“Before pursuing large-scale spread, it is important to develop a robust evidence base of the impacts of early deployment and develop a comprehensive understanding of how care with ambient scribes could and should be designed to support patients, clinicians and care systems,” they added.