Privacy Warning

AI scribes in doctors’ offices: What the Australian privacy warning means for patients If you’ve visited a GP or a specialist recently, you may have noticed the doctor typing less and speaking more. Some practices have started using AI scribes—software that listens to your consultation and automatically generates clinical notes. Proponents say it saves time and lets doctors focus on patients rather than paperwork. But the Australian government has now issued a formal warning about the privacy risks these tools pose, especially when patient conversations may be recorded, stored, or used for AI training without clear consent. ...

AI Scribes in Doctors’ Offices: Australian Privacy Warning Highlights Risks for Patients If you’ve visited a GP or specialist recently, there’s a growing chance that your conversation was being recorded and transcribed by an AI tool. These programs—commonly called AI scribes—listen to the clinical encounter, generate a draft medical note, and save it to a patient’s record. They promise to free doctors from hours of typing and let them focus on you. But a recent warning from the Australian government suggests the privacy trade-off may be far larger than most patients realise. ...