VA Inspector General Finds Generative AI Deployed in Clinical Settings Without Adequate Oversight

The Department of Veterans Affairs gave clinical staff access to generative AI chat tools without proper governance or safeguards, the VA Office of Inspector General found in a report released June 12, 2026. The OIG study, conducted from October 2025 through February 2026, identified "risks for patient safety" and limited ability to detect and monitor errors.

The VA has been using VA GPT and Microsoft Copilot Chat across clinical operations, and is piloting Ambient AI Scribe for drafting clinical notes — the only tool the OIG found had meaningful governance in place.

Key Takeaways

• Speed over safeguards. OIG interviews found VA AI leaders prioritized rapid access to AI chat tools over protections "deemed impractical." They also compared generative AI to a search engine — a framing the OIG called "flawed," since generative AI synthesizes information rather than simply retrieving it.
• OMB memo may have backfired. VA efforts to reduce "unnecessary levels of bureaucratic oversight" — aligned with a 2025 Office of Management and Budget AI memorandum — may have "introduced more vulnerabilities," the report found.
• No retroactive safety tracking. The VA lacks infrastructure to retroactively identify records created with AI, making it impossible to surface safety concerns after the fact.

The VA concurred with the OIG's recommendations, which include evaluating AI chat tools as high-impact, requiring formal safeguards, and integrating AI risk monitoring into existing patient safety programs.

Read the full article on FedScoop