The next time you meet with your doctor, AI may be listening in the background taking notes. These ambient AI scribes are becoming the fastest-adopted technology in healthcare, according to a recent report, and are driving millions of investment dollars and acquisition activity.
AI scribes record conversations between physicians and patients and convert the audio into structured clinical notes. The technology replaces tedious notetaking that doctors spend hours completing, allowing them to focus more on patient care.
"In an industry with notoriously long sales cycles and implementation timelines, there is no technology in recent memory that has been adopted more enthusiastically by clinicians or has scaled so uncharacteristically fast, absent a regulatory mandate," the Peterson Health Technology Institute (PHTI) report said.
Investors have poured $600 million into the ambient scribe market in just three years. The competitive landscape ranges from established players like Microsoft, which acquired Nuance Communications for $19.7 billion, to startups like Abridge, which recently secured a $250 million Series D investment.
The AI Scribe Boom
The PHTI report suggests that within two to three years, these AI scribes will be common in most doctors' offices where patients receive care without hospital stays. This rapid timeline is unusual for healthcare technology, which typically faces lengthy implementation periods and institutional resistance.
What makes ambient scribes different is their minimal workflow disruption. Unlike other technologies requiring significant changes to how healthcare professionals go about their work – such as logging on to different systems or learning how to use new devices, ambient scribes simplify existing processes, allowing clinicians to focus more on patient care and less on documentation.
The technology is spreading beyond primary care into emergency medicine, surgical specialties, and even expanding to non-physician providers like nurses, pharmacists and social workers.
In a NEJM AI study, ambient AI scribes reduced electronic health record (HER) time by up to 12 percent—but only after six months. Early gains were minimal, and visit volumes didn’t rise, though clinicians reported less after-hours charting and cognitive strain. A JAMIA study similarly found a 30 percent drop-in documentation time without loss of note quality.
How AI Helps Avoid Physician Burnout
Clinician burnout drives ambient scribe adoption more than any other factor. Health systems report meaningful impact when implementing these solutions. Mass General Brigham reported a 40 percent relative reduction in reported burnout in a six-week survey pilot, while MultiCare shared that clinicians surveyed after its pilot reported a 63 percent reduction in burnout.
The technology appears most beneficial for specific clinician profiles.
"Interestingly, several organizations observed that those who benefited the most were not their tech-savvy early adopters," according to the PHTI report. "The clinicians experiencing the greatest benefits were those who…were consistently behind in notes, spent more time in conversation with their patients, or typically had longer summary notes.”
Not everyone shares the enthusiasm. Mathematician and medical researcher Aliaa Barakat, PhD, argued against AI scribes in a recent opinion piece. She valued her pulmonologist's personally crafted notes for their quality and personal touch.
"As I read his notes, I can feel his acumen and experience as a practitioner of medicine — his interest and understanding, his concern and compassion, his discernment and responsiveness. I don't think an algorithm can re-create those specifically human experiences," Barakat wrote.
The AI Scribe Business Landscape and Investor Opportunity
The crowded field is driving companies to expand beyond basic documentation. Commure, for example, acquired Augmedix for $139 million as part of a strategy to build what it calls "the health AI operating system of the future."
"Given the highly competitive market, ambient scribe companies are differentiating by expanding the end-user base into nursing and other clinical roles," according to the report.
Health systems are taking various approaches to implementation. Some organizations have focused on achieving deep adoption and scaled more slowly, while others have made solutions broadly available to all interested clinicians.
"Most organizations reported no increase in the number of patient encounters per period; however, some did note an observed increase," the report said.
Where’s the ROI?
Whether these technologies are worth their cost remains unclear, as the PHTI report notes not enough time has passed to truly measure their financial benefit. However, one user cited in the report provided a sense of the balance they’re trying to achieve.
“I manage an ambient scribe product, and we’re still trying to figure out the ROI for our customers, too. We get love letters from clinicians…but the ROI is very difficult to quantify, despite the level of excitement.”
