AI in medicine: A primer for Ontario physicians

Artificial Intelligence is quickly moving from the margins of health care into everyday clinical practice. Once largely confined to research or specialized settings, it’s now built into many tools designed for routine use by physicians across Ontario.

You may already be interacting with AI in documentation, inbox management, imaging or clinical decision support – sometimes without realizing it. Or you may be considering whether AI has a place in your practice as its presence in health care continues to grow.

To help demystify AI in medicine, we chatted with Simon Ling, executive director of partnerships and stakeholders at OntarioMD, about what today’s tools can and can’t do for you and your practice – and what to consider before adopting them.

What role does AI currently play in health care?

AI is an umbrella term, not a single product or technology, says Ling. It’s a broad group of technologies that enable computers to mimic aspects of human behaviour and it has been used in some parts of medicine, like radiology, for years.

What’s new is broader accessibility and availability. Front-line clinicians can easily use, and see an immediate impact from, tools like ambient AI scribes, which can listen to doctor-patient conversations and generate clinical notes.

According to OMD, AI scribes have also reduced time spent documenting by 70 to 90 per cent, helping physicians focus more on patient care while reducing administrative burden.

Simon Ling is executive director of partnerships and stakeholders at OntarioMD.

What’s driving the medical AI boom?

AI tools and programs can also help with clinical decision support, such as predicting a patient’s deterioration or sepsis risk, as well as in imaging and diagnostics. In medical office settings, AI can help with inbox and document triage and serve as a virtual assistant for tasks like after-hours appointment booking.

Ling says two converging shifts are taking place:

• Advances that allow AI to better understand and generate human language
• Increased computing power that makes large‑scale AI more feasible and affordable

Together, these changes have moved AI out of academic settings and into everyday clinical tools. Rather than arriving overnight, AI has become easier to access, easier to use and more embedded in clinical workflows.

What are the clinical risks and limitations?

AI can support some tasks but it’s not a replacement for clinical judgment, cautions Ling.

“The accuracy of AI scribes — even the best ones — is not 100 per cent,” he says.

AI can generate hallucinations and inherit algorithmic biases leading to plausible‑sounding but incorrect information. That means errors such as missing details or misattributed findings are possible and require careful physician review.

When considering an AI scribe tool, you should always review contracts carefully for privacy and data-use clauses, as some vendors might look to reuse patient data to improve their tools. Many AI tools are not regulated like traditional medical devices, making due diligence especially important.

For these reasons, Ling – who is heavily involved with the Ontario AI Scribe program – advises against becoming complacent or overly reliant on the technology. Physicians should always remain responsible for clinical decisions, regardless of the involvement of AI.

The bottom line

AI should support — not replace — the physician-patient relationship.

“All these advances create a lot more possibilities for really impactful tools for doctors and their staff,” says Ling. 

When used thoughtfully, AI can reduce your administrative burden and cognitive fatigue. However, informed adoption is essential. Ongoing evaluation, transparency with patients, and a basic understanding of how AI works can help you make sound decisions and stay in control of how AI fits into your practice.