Mum-of-two says dentist called police during appointment over use of AI
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A Melbourne woman says she was left ‘shocked’ after the police were called to a recent dental appointment of hers — all because she declined the use of AI during the check-up. Musician and composer Caerwin Martin, 52, says she’d gone in for a routine examination when the situation suddenly escalated. The dentist had asked for her consent to use an AI tool to record her notes. Which she declined. What followed, she says, was a bizarre and uncomfortable exchange that ended with a call being put in to the police. Something she recorded and posted on Facebook. (Picture: Caerwin Martin/Facebook)
Martin says the incident happened during a specialist appointment she had been referred to for ongoing tooth pain. She states that the dentist explained that he uses AI software to write referrals and take notes. ‘He said he was using AI to make notes and write referrals and I said no, I’m a musician and I’m divesting in AI,’ she told Daily Mail. She claims that refusal appeared to change the atmosphere in the room and that the dentist became tense and visibly frustrated at her and what she’d said to him. (Picture: Caerwin Martin/Facebook)
‘He kind of froze and looked at his assistant and after that became really agitated,’ she said. ‘I opened my mouth and he looked inside for like 30 seconds and said I needed a referral and that was it. He seemed annoyed and was really jittery and kind of bouncing his leg angrily.’ She says the consultation ended abruptly, only for things to get much worse. (Picture: Caerwin Martin/Facebook)
As the dentist began writing her referral, Martin says the conversation about AI started up again. She voiced concerns about the safety of the technology and the potential risk of her private data being stored online. ‘I told him I didn’t think it was safe and I had security concerns about it and he said that was legally untrue and he couldn’t allow me to say things that were legally untrue,’ she said. ‘It was really weird and I don’t really understand that sentence, but that’s what he said and then he absolutely lost it.’ (Picture: Caerwin Martin/Facebook)
According to Martin, the dentist grew angry when she questioned the software’s safety. ‘He said they were not using ChatGPT and he wouldn’t give me any more details about it and things got really heated,’ she said. She told him to regulate himself and offered to leave. But she says when she went to the front desk to pay, he followed her into the waiting room and asked for someone to ‘call the police’. (stock image) (Picture: Shutterstock)
‘The receptionist, who was a bit perplexed, called the police,’ she said. Martin decided to stay calm and says she sat waiting until officers arrived. ‘The police officer thought it was quite funny. He walked up and goes, “what’s going on?” This was an emergency call, and there’s me sitting calmly in the waiting room,’ she said. After a short discussion with police, she left and hasn’t heard from the clinic since. (Picture: Caerwin Martin/Facebook)
Still unsettled by what had happened, Martin says she contacted the Dental Board of Australia for advice. ‘They were amazing. They said I absolutely did have the right to choose and what happened shouldn’t have happened,’ she said. ‘What I think this raises is a bit of a conversation around AI use in medical practitioners,’ she added. (stock image) (Picture: Shutterstock)
She wrote on Facebook that she wouldn’t be revealing the name of the practitioner. Martin says she has ethical reasons for boycotting AI entirely. ‘I have lots of ethical reasons why I don’t want AI to have access to my medical records,’ she said. ‘I’m a musician and I’m offended that the government had to step in to stop AI from hoovering up all of our stuff. So I have a boycott on AI anyway and I don’t think AI is good for the world.’ Her stance comes as the Australian government recently banned AI firms from training their models on Australian creative works without consent. (Picture: Caerwin Martin/Facebook) Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source
