Ambient Voice Technology

Software that listens to a conversation as it happens, then transcribes and summarises it into a draft note, so the people in the room do not have to write it up afterwards. In healthcare it is often called an ambient scribe. North East Ambulance Service described the tool it was trialling in October 2026 as "technology that records, transcribes and summarises patient conversations", running through the in-built iPad microphones its crews already carry, with every AI-generated note "reviewed and edited by a clinician before they are added to a patient's record". That review step is the control to look for: the technology saves writing time only if the time spent checking the draft is smaller, and the person who signs off the note remains accountable for it. The same pattern applies outside healthcare, in meeting notes, call summaries and case records.