AI has entered the therapy session -- and its recording you

As generative artificial intelligence becomes embedded in people's everyday lives, one emerging aspect of its use in mental health care is raising complicated questions about professional ethics and patient privacy. A number of companies, like Upheal, Blueprint, and Heidi Health, have begun offering AI-powered tools designed to make therapists more efficient at documenting sessions and completing administrative paperwork. Providers are typically required to record the entirety of their session with a client. While it's ethical for therapists to record these conversations under certain circumstances, it's rarely done outside of professional training and forensic work. Note-taking tools, or "scribes," use AI to analyze the content of a client's conversation with their therapist in order to generate documentation that therapists must submit for a variety of reasons, including for insurance payments and potential quality audits.