AI usage policy

AI is being increasingly used in medical consultations and we have concerns with this. AI documentation of medical consultations involves allowing the AI program to take an audio recording of the medical consultation and we do not know what is being done with this confidential medical information. We don't know where it is stored, for how long and who has access to this information or how this is monitored. Records of mistakes are not being documented. We do not believe appropriate consent for the use of AI in medical consultation can be obtained without being able to answer these fundamental questions about privacy of confidential medical information. We have concerns about the environmental impact of AI and large data centres. An AI summary risks inaccurate information being recorded, including hallucinations and other errors and therefore we believe it does not create the contemporaneous and reliable recording of events that your medical record has so far been judged to be. We also feel that it is important that your doctors appropriately engage with you during your consultation and use their minds, their judgement and clinical knowledge to listen to and assimilate the information you have provided, consider diagnoses and make clinical plans and record this accurately in your consultation notes. AI may save time but just because it is easier does not make it right and we do not believe it to be ethically, environmentally or even medico-legally defensible to use AI in medical consultations.