{"id":667202,"date":"2026-05-13T18:19:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/667202\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:19:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:19:16","slug":"medical-ai-transcriber-for-ontario-doctors-hallucinated-generated-errors-auditor-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/667202\/","title":{"rendered":"Medical AI transcriber for Ontario doctors ‘hallucinated,’ generated errors: auditor general"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Artificial intelligence note-taking tools intended for use by Ontario doctors provided incorrect and incomplete information or demonstrated “hallucinations,” and were not evaluated adequately, the province\u2019s auditor general says in a new report.<\/p>\n

Ontario Auditor General Shelley Spence made the finding in the course of a broader probe of artificial intelligence use across the provincial public service. <\/p>\n

During a provincial procurement process for AI medical systems that transcribe conversations between doctors and patients, government evaluators found serious errors in transcripts generated by 20 programs, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInaccuracies in medical notes generated by AI scribe systems could potentially result in inadequate or harmful treatment plans that may potentially impact patient health outcomes,\u201d the auditor\u2019s report said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important that AI scribe systems are tested to provide assurances as to the quality of their generated notes to minimize inaccuracies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The evaluators ran a pair of test conversations between hypothetical doctors and patients through the AI systems to test their capabilities, and uncovered the problems, the report said.<\/p>\n

Evaluators found that nine of the systems had so-called “hallucinations,” fabricating information or making suggestions to patient treatment plans not made by the doctors. Those included referring a patient for therapy or ordering blood tests, the report said.<\/p>\n

Some AI scribes captured false drug prescriptions<\/p>\n

Transcripts created by 12 of the 20 programs contained incorrect information like capturing a different drug than was prescribed by the doctor. Seventeen of the 20 systems missed key details about patients\u2019 mental health issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The auditor also found some of the system vendors did not submit third-party audit reports, certifications or threat risk assessments during the procurement process. Four systems were still approved by the government.<\/p>\n

The systems are in use across the province, however the government has issued guidelines to doctors for the manual review of AI-generated notes to ensure their accuracy. The auditor recommended that the province implement IT controls in the systems to enforce an attestation from doctors, to confirm they reviewed the notes.<\/p>\n

\"AStephen Crawford, Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement, said the AI scribe errors pointed out in the AG’s report were found during the testing phase of process. (CBC News)<\/p>\n

Spence said she personally saw AI scribe systems in use during a recent doctor\u2019s visit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually went to my doctor because you can hear that my voice isn’t exactly what it normally is \u2026 and they were using AI scribe,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, I kind of mentioned, \u2018Please look at the transcript when you’re done.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Spence said she isn\u2019t recommending Ontarians follow her example, but instead is urging the government to thoroughly test its scribe systems to ensure \u201cthat we’re buying AI that works for the people of Ontario.\u201d<\/p>\n

Errors made during testing phase of AI programs<\/p>\n

Stephen Crawford, Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement, said the errors pointed out in the report were found during the testing phase of process. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctors that go through and use this product oversee every aspect of it,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, every decision that is made that comes out of any artificial intelligence anywhere is overseen by a professional.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crawford said the AI scribe systems are designed to save physicians time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat gives them more time to spend with their patients and less time in record keeping,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Province not properly overseeing doctor billings: Ontario auditor general <\/p>\n

Ontario\u2019s auditor general says some doctors are billing impossibly high hours \u2014 and the province isn\u2019t doing enough to catch it. Queen\u2019s Park reporter Lorenda Reddekopp explains.<\/p>\n

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the audit results are \u201cdeeply disturbing\u201d and raise patient safety issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the government’s going to utilize these tools, we need to make sure \u2026 they work properly before they’re deployed,\u201d Schreiner said.<\/p>\n

The auditor says she made 10 recommendations to the government and its procurement agency to improve the use of AI across the public sector, and it has agreed to nine.<\/p>\n

The recommendations focus largely on increasing security and privacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-667202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}