Near missAIA-2026-0011Health and safetyVerified

Health NZ told staff to stop using ChatGPT to write clinical notes

Health NZ instructed staff to stop using free public AI tools such as ChatGPT to help draft clinical notes, after it emerged some were doing so without authorisation. Feeding patient information into consumer chatbots raised privacy and data-sovereignty concerns, a clear case of unsanctioned “shadow AI” use inside the public health system before governance had…

Not yet rated

Outcome: Near miss: harm was likely but was caught or avoided in time
Date it happened: 26 March 2026
Added to the register: 26 March 2026
Region: Online or nationwide
Type of AI involved: Chatbot
Kind of harm: Privacy risk
Last updated: 29 October 2026

What happened

Health NZ instructed staff to stop using free public AI tools such as ChatGPT to help draft clinical notes, after it emerged some were doing so without authorisation. Feeding patient information into consumer chatbots raised privacy and data-sovereignty concerns, a clear case of unsanctioned "shadow AI" use inside the public health system before governance had caught up.

Sources

Health NZ staff told to stop using ChatGPT to write clinical notes
RNZ, March 2026

Change history

29 Oct 2026 Moved from the AI Safety Aotearoa incident tracker.

Cite this entry

AI Incidents Aotearoa. (2026). Health NZ told staff to stop using ChatGPT to write clinical notes (AIA-2026-0011). AI Safety Aotearoa. Retrieved 29 October 2026, from https://aiincidents.nz/register/health-nz-told-staff-to-stop-using-chatgpt-to-write-clinical-notes/

Other formats

Spot a mistake?

Tell us and we’ll check it. Every change is logged.

Suggest a correction

Has this happened to you?

AI Safety Aotearoa has plain-language guides on what to do.

Read the guides