A new kind of tool is entering the exam room. Ambient AI, sometimes called an AI scribe, listens during a patient visit and drafts the clinical note so the provider does not have to type it. It is already in use at many private practices. 

Whether it stays comes down to 2 groups. Providers have to trust the notes, and patients have to be comfortable being recorded. Tebra surveyed 223 private-practice healthcare providers and 501 patients in the United States to find out how each side feels, and where the two do not line up. This is a broader group than the one in Tebra’s State of AI in Private Practice: 2026 Report, which surveyed practices already using or piloting AI; 74% of those practices used ambient documentation tools.

Source: Tebra, The Ambient AI Report 2026. Surveys fielded September 2026.

Adoption is widespread but still early, and trust depends on experience. That gap is the story of where ambient AI stands today.

Nearly half of private-practice providers (45%) now use ambient AI documentation software to write their notes, and nearly 2 in 3 (65%) have tried it. Most of that use is still a test drive: only 15% have gone beyond a trial or pilot, and 20% tried it and stopped. Nurses and physician associates were the most likely to use it, at about 57% to 59% each, compared with 43% of physicians.

Trust tracked closely with experience. Among providers who use ambient AI, 87% trusted the notes it produced, compared with 50% of those who had never used it. The doubt ran the same way in reverse: 44% of providers who had never used ambient AI had little or no trust in its notes, against 13% of current users.

The concerns point to what practices can act on. Patient privacy led at 44%, followed by inaccurate notes (41%) and patient discomfort (40%). The two things most likely to win over non-users speak to those same worries: strong privacy and data security protections (42%) and knowing patients are comfortable with it (34%). Concern about accuracy is lower among current users (30%) than among providers who have never tried ambient AI (58%).

For the providers who have adopted it, ambient AI mostly delivers on its central promise: less time on notes and more time with patients.

More than half of users (56%) said ambient AI cut the time they spend documenting visits, and 54% spent less time finishing notes after work or at home. Nearly 7 in 10 (69%) said their workday felt more manageable or less stressful, and nearly 2 in 3 (65%) said they could give patients more attention because they typed less.

That time adds up against a real burden. More than 1 in 3 providers (36%) spent over an hour a day on notes, and 3 in 5 (60%) said administrative work spilled past their scheduled day at least once a week. For more on that burden, see Tebra's after-hours charting report.

With review in place, comfort stopped at the edge of clinical judgment.Just over 3 in 4 providers (76%) would let AI transcribe a visit, and 67% would let it draft the note, but only half would let it suggest a diagnosis or recommend treatment. Physicians drew the sharpest line of all, with 82% comfortable with transcription and 37% with treatment suggestions.

Patients are more open to ambient AI than providers expect, but a good patient experience starts with one condition: ask first.

Three-fifths of patients (60%) were comfortable with an AI tool listening during their own exam. Still, more than 9 in 10 (93%) expected to be asked for permission at least the first time. Just over 1 in 5 (21%) had ever been told an AI tool was listening during a visit.

Disclosure tracked closely with comfort. Patients who had already been told about an AI tool were far more comfortable with it than those who had not (77% compared with 55%). Telling patients the note would be reviewed, or that the audio would be deleted, barely moved the overall number.

What did move patients was time. More than half (54%) said they would feel more comfortable if ambient AI let their provider spend less time typing and more time focused on them. Younger patients were the most cautious: only 38% of Gen Z (about 70 respondents, so directional) were comfortable with AI listening, and 54% of them said they would share less with their provider if they knew it was on.

Put the two surveys side by side, and the disagreements are few but telling.

While 60% of patients were comfortable with an AI tool listening, only 50% of providers thought their patients would be. Providers who had never used ambient AI misread patients the most. Only 32% thought their patients would be comfortable, compared with 67% of current users.

Permission is the wider gap. Nearly 2 in 3 patients (64%) wanted to be asked before every visit, but only 26% of providers who use ambient AI did so, with most (57%) asking once and 17% never asking. Notably, 40% of providers who had not yet adopted it said they would ask every time, suggesting the habit may be simpler to set before a practice starts than to change after.

Ambient AI is already in the exam room, and the providers using it mostly report lighter days and more attention for their patients. Patients are more comfortable than providers assume, but they expect to be asked, and asking before every visit is still rare. Practices that build permission into the visit and keep a provider in charge of every note may adopt the technology with fewer hurdles than the concerns suggest.

Tebra conducted two surveys to explore how ambient AI documentation is landing in the exam room: how private-practice providers are using and trusting it, and how patients feel about an AI tool listening during their visits. Among patients, we surveyed 501 Americans across 4 generations: Gen Z (14%), Millennials (40%), Gen X (30%), and Baby Boomers (17%). 

The patient survey explored how comfortable they would be with an AI tool listening during an appointment to draft the clinical note, how much they would trust that note, what they expect a provider to do before using one, and whether provider review of the note, deleted audio or more face time with their provider would change their comfort.

Among providers, we surveyed 223 US healthcare professionals working in private practice, spanning solo practitioners, single-specialty groups and multispecialty groups, practices from a single provider to 100 or more, and specialties including family medicine, internal medicine, and behavioral health. Respondents included physicians, nurse practitioners, physician associates, and registered nurses. 

The provider survey explored how many have tried or currently use ambient AI documentation, how much they trust the notes it produces, what drove adoption or holds it back, how it changed their documentation load and workday, which tasks they would let AI handle with review, and how comfortable they think their patients would be. 

Questions about the effects of ambient AI went to the 124 providers who currently use it or used it beyond a trial or pilot. "Highly trust" means the top 2 points on a five-point scale. Data was collected in September 2026. Figures may not total 100% due to rounding. Both surveys were fielded through Prolific in September 2026. All respondents were adults 18 or older, so “Gen Z” here refers to adults 18 to 28. These are non-probability samples, so read the results as directional rather than projectable to all U.S. patients or all private-practice providers. Where a margin of error is wanted, the simple-random-sample approximation at 95% confidence is about ±4.4 points for patients (n=501), ±6.6 for all providers (n=223) and ±8.8 for providers with ambient AI experience (n=124). Smaller subgroups, such as Gen Z (about 70 respondents), are directional.

Tebra, headquartered in Southern California, empowers private healthcare practices with AI and automation to drive growth, streamline care, and boost efficiency. Our all-in-one EHR and billing platform delivers everything you need to attract and engage your patients, including online scheduling, reputation management, and digital communications. 

Inspired by "vertebrae," our name embodies our mission to be the backbone of healthcare success. With over 165,000 providers and 190 million patient records, Tebra is redefining healthcare through innovation and a commitment to customer success. We're not just optimizing operations, we're ensuring private practices thrive. 

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