Complimentary
Digitail and the American Animal Hospital Association recently released their 2026 Veterinary AI Study <Press release> finding that AI use among veterinary professionals has more than doubled since 2024. More revealing is that many clinics have yet to establish strategies and safeguards needed to realize its potential. A maturity model used in the study assesses strategy, governance, vendor evaluation, workflow integration, adoption and readiness.
Digitail provided an infographic highlighting the study findings which can be found in the AHD library <Link>
Commentary
There is a lot of information to digest in this study, including comparisons to results from the 2024 study. We urge practice owners, practice managers and key personnel to dig into the findings, which reveal opportunities in the coming years. Having read the documents and given the depth and implications of the findings, these are our layman’s impressions.
According to Digitail’s October 2026 AI benchmark study:
– AI adoption is no longer a major industry concern per se’
– AI implementation must be strategic; one-off PIMs bolt-ons will likely not produce gains
– Employees at all levels are willing to adopt and integrate AI. But someone must govern where and how broadly AI gets used.
– Trust remains a palpable issue when AI is positioned to support diagnostics or radiology
– Trust is also a concern if direct-to-client communications are not managed and edited for appropriate content and messaging
– Time savings benefits from automating medical records are being spent on life quality but NOT on patient acquisition
– Using AI proactively to predict an individual animal’s health needs surfaces critical issues with health record privacy and who owns the access and use of the health data
!! Likely most important is the shortage of personnel educated to create, implement and manage the use of AI as it stands in 2026.
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