This month, I discovered that two of the medical practices I frequent have taken the “AI” plunge, and not in a good way.

A bit of research led me to discover that more and more health care providers are adopting AI answering services or AI receptionists. According to the companies selling these systems, AI receptionists could “improve the patient experience” by minimizing wait times and providing personalized responses. Some even contend that these systems will increase health care access.

At least some observers are a bit more honest in saying that AI receptionists can “transform your practice into a profitable hub.”

At least for the implementations I’ve had experience with, “customer experience” and usability seem to have taken a back seat to minimizing labor costs.

“Ovi” and the mismatch between system and real world

Second among the NNGroup’s 10 usability heuristics is that

“The design should speak the users’ language. Use words, phrases, and concepts familiar to the user, rather than internal jargon.”