Bob Wachter

The first really widespread use of AI in healthcare now, and really the one that took over very quickly in a year or two, is what's called an AI scribe or ambient intelligence.

Every doctor at UCSF now has access to a tool where if you're coming in to see me, I put my phone down on the desk, say, is it okay if I use this to create my note, press a little button,

And it records our conversation.

At the end of a conversation, I press a button and there is your note.

And this is not just a transcript.

This is an assimilated transcript, you might say, yeah?

A transcript would be worthless because you said, well, doctor, I'm having chest pain.

And maybe 10 minutes later, you would tell me you're having shortness of breath and your right leg hurts.

Those things go together in the note.

They don't go 10 minutes apart in the note.

Maybe between them, you told me about your focaccia recipe or how much you love your grandchildren and how Tommy's soccer game went last week.

That generally does not go in the note.

So the note has to weave all of that together into a template that we are comfortable with.

And these tools now do it extraordinarily well.

It saves me maybe a minute of time, not that much, but more importantly, I'm no longer that doctor looking down at my keyboard during our time together.

I'm looking at you and really engaged in the conversation.

This has really been the first AI tool that took medicine by storm.

And I think quite smartly on the part of the healthcare organizations, doctors and nurses, but also the companies, because it's an easy win.

It's something that satisfies everybody.

The risk is relatively low.