‘GPs are adopting AI faster than we understand it’

As AI tools rapidly spread through primary care, Dr Brighton Chireka argues that GPs must guide the technology, rather than quietly conform to it

Recently, I spoke at Pulse LIVE London on artificial intelligence in general practice. What stayed with me most was not the technology. It was the room.

I asked two questions. First: Who has used AI in clinical practice in the past week? Almost every hand went up. Second: Who has had any formal training in how these tools work, what they can get wrong, or where responsibility sits when they do? Almost every hand went down. That gap between adoption and understanding is the most important clinical issue facing general practice right now.

AI is no longer a future concept. It is already in our consulting rooms, transcribing conversations, generating clinical notes, supporting triage. Most of us are using it. Far fewer of us understand it well enough to use it safely.

Much of the debate focuses on accuracy, liability, and safety. These matter. But there is a quieter risk that deserves more attention. We may be losing our presence in the consultation without noticing.

A colleague described an experience that felt both subtle and unsettling: reviewing notes that were accurate and comprehensive yet did not feel like their own. This matters more than we might realise.

Clinical note writing in general practice is not administration. It is thinking. It is where we synthesise complexity, prioritise risk, and construct our understanding of a patient. When that process is handed to an algorithm, we are not simply saving time. We may be handing over part of our clinical reasoning with it.

I was reminded of this in my own consulting room. A patient I had known for years came in for what appeared to be a routine follow-up. The AI summary was tidy and clinically complete. But something in his manner told me this was not a routine visit.

I put the screen aside and asked how he really was. What followed was one of the most important conversations I have had in recent memory – one no algorithm could have anticipated. It was only possible because I was fully present.

Consider what this looks like in practice: A patient attends complaining of tiredness. During the consultation she mentions that things at home have been difficult and she has not been herself for months. The clinician senses something important in her averted gaze and change in tone.

In a traditionally documented consultation, that instinct finds its way into the record: low mood, possible depression, social stressors, follow-up. With an ambient scribe running, the note captures what was said but not what was sensed. The note is accurate, but incomplete in a way only the clinician in the room would recognise.

Efficiency is real, but it is different from care. If the time AI saves us is used only to see more patients in the same hour, we risk compressing consultations to the point where nuance is missed, safeguarding signals are lost, and the therapeutic relationship – the very reason patients come to us –  risks being hollowed out. The question is not how much faster AI can make us. It is what we choose to do with the time it gives back.

One principle must be non-negotiable: AI should be assistive, not autonomous. It supports clinical thinking. It does not replace it. Regardless of how sophisticated these tools become, the responsibility, the accountability and the standard of care remain entirely with the GP.

To help navigate this in practice, I shared a simple framework with the session – the H.U.M.A.N. framework:

• Care must remain human-led
• We must understand the limits of AI
• Do not delegate moral responsibility to an algorithm
• Use of AI must be appropriate – know when to switch it off
• Nuance and relationship matter

This is not a technical checklist. It is a clinical and ethical commitment.

For GPs wondering where to start, three practical steps make an immediate difference.

First, read every AI-generated note before you file it. Published studies have found significant error rates in ambient scribe outputs, including some with potential for patient harm. Your signature is your professional endorsement of its accuracy.

Second, ask your vendor the questions that matter: How was this technology trained, on whose data, and how does it perform for patients who are not native English speakers or have strong regional accents? These are clinical governance questions and deserve clear answers.

Third, protect the sensitive consultation – domestic abuse disclosures, mental health crises, safeguarding concerns. Know when to switch the technology off.

What was clear from the conversations I had with people after the conference is that GPs are not resistant to AI. They are curious, and open to it. The question they are asking is: How do we use this safely?  And the answer is to become intelligent customers – not passive users, but clinicians who understand what these tools are doing, question their outputs and take genuine ownership of the care they inform.

AI will only become more present in general practice. The defining question is not whether we use it – it is whether we lead it or let it lead us.

The responsibility is still ours and the opportunity is significant. GPs must use AI to reclaim time for the relationship between doctor and patient, not to replace it. Because AI should not make general practice less human. It should help us become more human than ever before.

Dr Brighton Chireka is a GP, AI consultant and founder of the DOCBEECEE Leadership Academy. He works at the intersection of frontline clinical practice, compassionate leadership and responsible AI in health and social care.

Continue your learning by registering for our upcoming Pulse Virtual Events. These events are designed for GPs and primary care professionals seeking practical, CPD-accredited clinical updates and expert-led insights they can apply straight into everyday consultations. Taking place in May, we’ll be focusing on Chronic Conditions, Dermatology and Diabetes, and in June, Women’s Health, Urology and Dermatology. 

We’ll also be travelling to Birmingham, Newcastle, Cardiff, Glasgow, Belfast and Liverpool this year, delivering our Pulse LIVE Events. Book your free place today.