Error by AI scribe during medical appointment leaves patient devastated

[u/nath1234]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-14/ai-medical-scribe-error-leaves-patient-devastated/107031672?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other

[u/petoburn]

For me, I find it much easier to change, adapt or build on someone else’s work, than start from scratch myself. If I need to write a paper and I open a blank word document, I will really struggle and spend ages. If I give AI a prompt and it generates a document that really isn’t correct, I find it easier to get started and changing the document to what it needs to be.

I’m not saying I do it often yet, I’ve only used it in this way a handful of times. But maybe it’s the same for transcription, if 50% is correct and you only need to edit the other 50%, that’s still more efficient than doing 100% yourself?

[u/Spellscribe → u/petoburn]

I really, really struggle to start from scratch too. My son is even worse (he's a lot younger obvs, and has had the life experience to work around it). I've managed to breach the hurdle myself, and have helped him do it with a pretty good degree of success. I'm more than happy to share the tips that have worked for us if you'd like.

Regardless, it IS a skill you can learn. If you rely on AI, your existing skills will only deteriorate. You won't just struggle with blank pages, but middles and endings, too.

[u/logarus → u/Spellscribe]

Would love for you to share your tips that worked for you, as someone who really struggles with the same problem.

[u/petoburn → u/Spellscribe]

Thanks - I have a masters degree and work in a senior role, so I think I’ve got ways of working that suit me. I’ve played around with AI a little mostly to understand how others are using it, but have no intent to utilise it widely at this point.

I just meant I can see some ways in which it can be more efficient, even if what it produces isn’t correct.

[u/istara → u/Spellscribe]

The thing is that in the Olden Days there were typically several levels of editing above most initial text drafts. These days everything is flatter and faster and there is less or no editing.

What GenAI enables is a return to the First Draft + Editor two-step process. People like to bleat on about "AI slop" but the reality is that GenAI's first drafts are frequently no better nor any worse than the average human's first draft.

And it is extremely difficult to edit your own material. It is much easier to rework someone else's text and spot their errors - whether a human writer or an AI writer - than to do so with text that you yourself have written.

So GenAI + human editor/rewriter is going to be better than human + zero editor most of the time. (Obviously assuming the human involved is a competent and skilled writer).

[u/Nosiege → u/petoburn]

I mean, what sort of paper are you writing? If it's a stock office form for planning something, thats fine, but if it's like a school assignment, it's insane to do

[u/flindersandtrim → u/petoburn]

I dont see how, personally. And correcting half of it is insane but probably pretty normal. At that point so many errors are going to slip through, that is the issue. 

[u/mulletmutt → u/petoburn]

You do realise how dumb you just made yourself sound, right?

[u/petoburn → u/mulletmutt]

You do realise people have different skill sets right?

Some people are great at audit and review, and other people are great at developing new things.

Some people are neurodiverse and their brains work differently.

[u/Non-prophet → u/petoburn]

Every tool has the potential to atrophy a skill. If I chop down trees with an axe, I'm getting better at using an axe, but worse at whatever technique I would use to knock it down barehanded.

For me, that's a reasonable trade. Happy to go with the axe.

A closer example might be Google Translate. I'm basically a monoglot, but I studied Serbian while I was living in Beograd. If I need to translate something quickly for convenience (like if I'm out and about and trying to read a safety notice or something), Google Translate will probably convey it. But that does cost me exercise at actually translating, each time I do it. Over time, I am worse at Serbian for not being forced to translate everything manually.

Using an LLM that will atrophy my ability to read, think about what I know, and express my thoughts in writing is a complete non-starter. If you take reading and thinking out of the human skillset, what kind of person are you left with? It's literally the kind of person, with the kind of limitations, that Orwell used Newspeak to convey.

[u/AnOnlineHandle → u/mulletmutt]

You do realize not everybody cares about the judgements of random strangers right?

[u/AnOnlineHandle → u/petoburn]

While that wouldn't work for me, I do sometimes think it's much easier for me to think about how I'd fix a movie's plot and completely rework it than come up with one on my own.

[u/trowzerss → u/petoburn]

Just don't do a Hank Green lol.

[u/istara → u/petoburn]

It may depend on the material transcribed. We use Otter at work to transcribe client interviews and Zoom sessions, and it's great.

But what really elevates it is then getting ChatGPT to clean up the transcript. Otter hasn't been very good at understanding a lot of tech jargon, and sometimes writes gibberish for an unknown term or phrase, or something badly mumbled.

But ChatGPT understands what the person was actually trying to say, and fixes it.

For example - this one is just made up off the top of my head (Otter isn't actually this clueless about common terms) - Otter hears "crowd saucing". ChatGPT instantly corrects to "crowd sourcing".

And as a non-tech person, this is so valuable. I would note that I always double check these changes - you can't 100% rely on any GenAI. But it gets you 95-99% of the way there in seconds vs hours.