The Department of Veterans Affairs currently has 367 documented artificial intelligence use cases supporting everything from medical appointments and disability claims to customer service and records management. However, veterans seeking medical care or VA benefits may encounter artificial intelligence without realizing it.
The VA’s recently released 2025 AI Inventory identifies 215 of those use cases as high-impact systems. Although VA officials say safeguards and human oversight remain in place, veteran advocates say veterans are more likely to trust AI systems if they understand when they are being used and what role they play.
For Navy veteran Markus Williams, the issue surfaced during a recent VA medical appointment. “Yesterday the nurse asked if I was cool with them using AI during my visit with my doc to help them with notes,” Williams said. “When I told her no I wasn’t comfortable with that she didn’t seem too happy.”
Williams said he declined because he was not comfortable with AI being used during his visit and that he didn’t really know how it was actually being utilized. Veterans, advocates and former VA clinicians interviewed by Military Times described varying levels of veteran awareness about when AI is used and what role it plays in veterans’ interactions with the department.
Veterans may not know when AI is involved
VA officials say many veterans may not be interacting with artificial intelligence in the ways they assume they are. “The term ‘AI’ cannot be used interchangeably with VA’s Automated Decision Support system,” VA Press Secretary Quinn Slaven told Military Times. “Automation is constrained to perform exactly what it’s programmed to do, while AI can assess patterns from data.”
Slaven said, “At the beginning of a visit, the provider will ask if the veteran wants to use Ambient AI Scribe and explain how it works. The veteran can agree, opt out or ask the provider to turn off Ambient AI Scribe at any time. If the veteran chooses not to opt out, the provider will document the visit with Ambient AI Scribe.”
Veterans interviewed by Military Times described widely different experiences with AI use and notification. Williams said he was asked whether he consented to AI-assisted note taking during a recent appointment. Army veteran Tim King said he has never been asked. “There was a big email sent out recently about it,” King said. “I have yet to be asked if I am ok with it during appointments and I do not intend to okay them using it.”
Some veterans said they did not distinguish a difference between automation and AI, while others said they viewed the technologies differently.
Advocates say transparency must extend beyond an inventory
Jon Retzer, national legislative director for the Disabled American Veterans, called VA’s public inventory an important step toward transparency because it provides a centralized accounting of how AI is being explored and deployed across benefits, health care and operations.
However, Retzer said the inventory largely operates at a high level and provides limited insight into how systems are monitored after deployment, how performance is evaluated over time and what accountability mechanisms are triggered when problems arise.
“Veterans would benefit from more detailed, consistent, and publicly accessible information about how these systems function in practice, not just their intended use,” he said.
Retzer explained veterans should expect clear notification when artificial intelligence is used in decision-making affecting their care or benefits, along with ongoing monitoring, strong privacy protections and meaningful human oversight. But Retzer warns that human oversight alone does not answer broader concerns about whether veterans are informed when AI contributes to their medical appointments, records or benefits experience.
Even when a clinician or claims processor makes the final decision, he said, veterans may receive little information about how AI influenced the documentation or workflows supporting that decision.
Clinical use raises new questions
Notification may be particularly important in health care settings. In January, the VA Office of Inspector General issued a preliminary advisory identifying a potential patient safety risk related to the Veterans Health Administration’s use of generative AI chat tools for clinical care and documentation.
The watchdog found that VHA lacked a formal mechanism to identify, track or resolve risks associated with generative AI and expressed concern that the absence of a standardized process could limit the department’s ability to safeguard patient safety.
The advisory states that outputs generated by approved AI chat tools can be used to support medical decision-making and copied into veterans’ electronic health records. The OIG also noted that generative AI systems can produce inaccurate outputs, including omissions, that could affect diagnosis and treatment decisions.
The OIG review remains ongoing, and the advisory did not identify specific instances of patient harm. However, investigators said the absence of a standardized process for managing AI-related risks could limit VHA’s ability to identify patterns, improve safety and address problems associated with generative AI tools used in clinical settings.
Clinical documentation can affect future treatment, disability claims and continuity of care for years. A missing detail or inaccurate entry may require repeated appointments, additional paperwork or lengthy efforts to correct the record.
Veterans and clinicians see both risks and benefits
Not every veteran views artificial intelligence with skepticism. Helen Cooper, Marine Corps veteran and retired registered nurse from a Tennessee VA medical center, said she would welcome AI-assisted documentation if it results in more accurate records.
“If I were to choose between AI assisting in thorough documentation of our visits or the status quo of overworked nurses and doctors blatantly ignoring things we tell them or filling our charts with absolute nonsense, I’ll choose AI,” Cooper said.
“Time and time again VA doctors completely neglect to document veterans’ concerns,” she added. “I’m happy to allow a robot to do their job if they can’t.”
Air Force veteran and former VA physician Dr. Charles Faulk said documentation requirements have expanded dramatically during his career, often forcing clinicians to spend hours completing records after clinic hours. “The notes burden in the VA has probably tripled in the past quarter century,” Faulk said. “Maybe the AI will make life more livable for the clinician.”
But even veterans who support the use of artificial intelligence said they want to understand when it is involved in their care. “I need to know what it really does before I can be okay with them using it,” explained Tim King.
DAV’s Retzer said veterans should expect clear notification when AI is used in decisions affecting their care or benefits and should be able to understand how those systems affect their interactions with VA.
“AI must never diminish due process, reduce access to earned benefits, or replace necessary human judgment in decisions that affect veterans’ lives,” Retzer said.
