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Incident

Ontario auditor: all 20 approved AI scribes produced inaccurate notes in testing

Ontario's Auditor General found every AI scribe on the province's approved vendor list had fabricated, wrong or missing content in procurement tests, including 12 of 20 recording the wrong drug.

Sources checked when written 26 September 2026

TierThe automation stayed up and kept producing output that was wrong or went unchecked; there was no outage to fall back from. How tiers are assigned.

What happened

The Auditor General's May 2026 special report on AI in the Ontario government reviewed Supply Ontario's evaluation of AI Scribe systems, which vendors tested on two simulated doctor-patient conversations. All 20 approved vendors showed at least one type of inaccuracy. Nine of 20 fabricated information, including treatment-plan steps such as therapy referrals or blood tests that were never discussed, and statements like 'no masses found'. Twelve of 20 recorded a different drug than the one prescribed. Seventeen of 20 missed key mental-health details in at least one test. Global News reported that vendors were not required to demonstrate their systems live and that at least five were approved without submitting required risk and privacy impact assessments. The province said the tests were an evaluation stage, not operational use.[1,2]

Documented harm

None documented; findings are from procurement testing, not patient records.

What it teaches

Sources

  1. Performance Audit: Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Ontario Government (Special Report 2026). Office of the Auditor General of Ontario, 12 May 2026. Primary Official report · link checked 2026-09-26
  2. AI systems used by Ontario doctors hallucinate, auditor general finds. Global News (Canada), 12 May 2026. Secondary Journalism · link checked 2026-09-26

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