In recent years, few new technologies have held the potential to change veterinary medicine as dramatically as artificial intelligence (AI). With an explosion in AI-powered offerings, clinics can now select tools that streamline documentation, assist with diagnostics, and reduce the workload for overstretched veterinary teams.
A 2025 survey of veterinary professionals revealed that nearly 40% used AI tools in their veterinary practices, but 37% were somewhat or very skeptical of the technology. Indeed, with any new technology comes risks and uncertainty. To use AI tools in veterinary practice safely and effectively, clinic leaders must establish a clear roadmap for staff training, quality assurance, and navigating ethical and legal boundaries.
Once you’ve chosen the tools that make the most sense for your team, consider how you’ll safely implement them. Here are six tips to simplify AI use for teams new to the world of artificial intelligence technology.
1. Understand what the tool does
You chose your AI tools based on fit for your team’s needs, but your initial impression of the tool isn’t enough to properly implement it. Take time to understand the intended function, how the tool was trained, what it excels in, and its limitations. Using a tool for tasks it wasn’t designed to handle can go poorly since there is too much uncertainty outside of validated measures.
2. Define appropriate use cases
With a solid understanding of the tool’s purpose and validated use, decide when and when not to use it in clinical practice. Meet with medical leadership or the entire team to determine the specific scenarios in which team members are authorized to use the AI tool, identify which team members should or should not use it, and outline the potential consequences of deviating from the protocol.
Setting guidelines for human oversight also helps ensure the appropriate use of these systems and prevents overdependence.
3. Provide training in proper use
Regardless of the AI tool’s primary users, the whole team should receive some level of training to become familiar with its use. For example, customer service representative (CSRs) should receive training on clinical tools to answer questions from clients and understand how they may impact scheduling or billing. Those who use AI tools in veterinary practice routinely require extensive and ongoing training to establish proper use and AI safety.
Training for new users and the rest of the team should include:
- How the tool fits into your workflow
- When and how to use it
- How to identify and correct errors
- How to keep data secure
4. Ease into using the new tool
Before adopting an AI tool practice-wide, start with a small-scale trial. Choose a straightforward use case, such as generating SOAP notes for a wellness exam, and ask select team members to trial the product to get a better idea of its real-world capabilities.
Recruit team members from various roles, including veterinarians, technicians, and support staff, and then gather feedback about annoying glitches, how well the AI integrates with existing software, and whether it helps or hinders their day. Use the data to identify where more training or adjustments are needed.
5. Implement quality checks
Quality assurance procedures ensure that AI tools in veterinary practice deliver safe, accurate, and clinically appropriate results. Routinely conducting human reviews of AI outputs can help identify errors and confirm that the team is using the AI-driven programs as planned.
In addition to reviewing a given output immediately, leaders may also choose to conduct random audits. For example, you might review a selection of patient charts at the end of each week to identify any issues that human reviewers may have missed in the moment. If you find discrepancies, discuss them during staff meetings and ask for suggestions on how to improve the use or review process.
6. Set boundaries around AI use
AI tools in veterinary practice come with several ethical and legal concerns, including their effects on clinical decisions, client consent, and patient safety. Establish internal policies that clearly outline boundaries for AI use, including:
- Which tasks AI is approved to assist with
- Which tasks must be performed or reviewed by a veterinarian
- What happens when AI outputs conflict with clinical judgment
- How to inform clients of AI use and obtain consent
- How to keep records of AI tool use, including the product version
Data security and privacy are additional concerns when using AI tools. To protect clients and the practice, users should do the following when employing AI:
- Avoid entering protected client or patient information into public-use AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT).
- Use programs that provide secure storage, role-based access, and a robust and transparent data privacy policy.
- Ensure compliance with federal, state, and regional privacy regulations.
Consult your licensing board or a legal advisor before implementation if you have concerns about how AI use will impact medical liability in your clinic, and remember that veterinarians must remain ultimately responsible for patient care decisions and outcomes.
AI tools in veterinary practice hold enormous promise, but they require thoughtful implementation to avoid AI safety and quality concerns. With careful consideration of why and how to use a new platform, artificial intelligence can improve patient care, eliminate time bottlenecks, and reduce team burnout.
Key takeaways
- Know what your AI tool can and can’t do; stay within its validated scope to minimize risks.
- Define when AI should be used, by whom, and how. Create internal protocols for use and human oversight.
- Train your entire team on a new AI tool, not only the primary users. All team members should understand how AI affects workflows, communication, and data privacy.
AI confidence with Provet Cloud
Provet takes ethics, privacy, and data security seriously. Our AI tools are integrated into our GDPR-compliant platform, allowing you to use them with confidence.
Contact us for a demo to see how our AI-enhanced software can work for your veterinary team.
