AI tools that take notes for GPs could miss vital information, study suggests - BBC News BBC Homepage Skip to content Accessibility Help Your account Home News Sport Earth Reel Worklife Travel Culture Future Music TV Weather Sounds More menu More menu Search BBC Home News Sport Earth Reel Worklife Travel Culture Future Music TV Weather Sounds Close menu BBC News Menu Home Climate World UK Business Tech Science Entertainment & Arts Health In Pictures More BBC Verify Newsbeat Scotland Scotland Politics Scotland Business Edinburgh, Fife & East Glasgow & West Highlands & Islands NE, Orkney & Shetland South Tayside & Central AI tools that take notes for GPs could miss vital information, study suggests Image source, Getty Images Published 4 hours ago AI tools that are used to take medical notes from patients could miss vital information and lead to medical staff being deskilled, according to new research. The tools, called ambient AI scribes, are used by about 40% of GPs in the UK. The scribes listen to conversations between doctors and patients and convert the speech to text, generating written notes and letters. Academics at University of Edinburgh reviewed cases involving the scribes and found the tech had some positives, such as allowing clinicians to focus on complex tasks. However, they also said patients could be less forthcoming if they knew they were being recorded and found instances where doctors did not recognise their notes. The findings are peer-reviewed and have been published in the British Medical Journal's digital health and AI publication , external . 'Cognitive offloading' for clinicians The report concluded AI scribes can help with administrative work but more research needs to be done to understand how they work in specific healthcare settings and how their design supports both patients and clinicians. It comes months after the BBC heard from doctors in the West Midlands, who said their workload had been significantly cut by using the transcription t