The gains you make in a session only count if they survive the drive home. A client who nails a transfer technique in the clinic, or whose caregiver finally understands how to redirect a dementia-related behavior during your visit, still has to translate that into a habit at 6pm on a Tuesday when you are not in the room. That gap between session and daily life is where outcomes are won or lost — and it is exactly the gap your clients are already trying to fill on their own, nowadays often by asking AI.
Your Clients Are Already Asking AI for Help — With or Without You
Whether or not you have ever mentioned AI to a client, they are likely already typing questions into ChatGPT, Google's AI overviews, or a general-purpose chatbot. A new Caregiver Action Network survey found that 59% of family caregivers have already used AI for caregiving, and 76% are open to using it — this is close to becoming the norm, not a fringe behavior. A caregiver Googling what to do when Dad gets agitated at sundown. A parent searching how to handle a meltdown at the grocery store. Someone with a new back injury asking an app whether it is safe to lift their toddler. This is happening between your visits whether you are part of the conversation or not.
The Risk You Can't Ignore
- General AI tools are not trained on clinical, lifespan-specific OT knowledge — they blend internet content of wildly varying quality
- They rarely know when to stop and say "this needs a professional" — they default to answering, even when they shouldn't
- Clients often paste identifying health details, photos, or documents into free tools with no idea how that data is stored or used
- A confident-sounding answer is not the same as a correct one, and most clients have no way to tell the difference
Teaching Clients AI Best Practices
This does not require you to become a privacy or AI expert. A short conversation at discharge or during a home program review is enough to change how a client uses these tools.
1. Protecting Their Information
- Never paste full name, date of birth, insurance information, or identifiable medical record details into a public AI chat tool
- Describe the situation in general terms ("an older adult with memory loss") rather than naming the specific person
- Avoid uploading photos of injuries, wounds, or medical documents to free consumer AI tools
- Check whether a tool states it will not use conversations to train its model before sharing anything sensitive
2. Judging Accuracy
- Does the tool ask clarifying questions about age, diagnosis, or context — or does it give the same generic answer to everyone?
- Does it ever say "this is something to bring to your OT or doctor" — or does it always just answer?
- Is the advice specific enough to act on, or so general it could apply to any situation?
Where a Tool Like SAMIE Fits
This is the gap SAMIE was built for. SAMIE is a clinical AI tool trained by OTPs to give specific, lifespan-informed guidance in the moments that happen outside your sessions — managing a behavior that arises with dementia, helping a parent respond to a child's sensory or emotional regulation needs, guiding someone through back pain at work, or pointing to the right category of adaptive equipment for their specific situation.
What Makes This Different From a General Chatbot
- Trained specifically on occupational therapy clinical knowledge, not general internet content
- Gives situation- and lifespan-specific guidance rather than one-size-fits-all answers
- Built to recognize when a question goes beyond what a tool should answer, and actively refers the client back to their OTP instead of guessing
- Designed to extend your clinical reach between visits, not to replace the evaluation and ongoing relationship only you can provide
Practical Ways to Introduce This to Clients
When to Recommend It
- At discharge, as a resource for reinforcing the home program between check-ins
- For caregivers facing dementia-related behaviors in the moment, when calling you isn't realistic
- For parents who need language and strategies for a sensory or emotional regulation moment as it's happening
- Before a follow-up visit, when a client wants to understand their adaptive equipment options ahead of the conversation with you
Your Next Step
Clients are going to keep asking AI for help whether you weigh in or not. The OTPs who shape that behavior — teaching clients what to protect and how to judge what they're told — are the ones whose home programs actually stick.
Explore AskSAMIE.com and see how SAMIE can extend your clinical guidance between visits, safely and specifically.