If you're feeling overwhelmed by AI, you're not alone. This week I discovered something that puts the scale of this shift into perspective.
Dr. Karen Bolten — a practicing DVM with an MBA who also runs The Business Vet — just announced VetMedicine.ai, an independent index she's been building for over a year. It catalogs over 160 AI tools, platforms, and research projects shaping veterinary medicine right now. Not 10. Not 30. Over 160.
That number is staggering. When I launched this newsletter last week, I knew the space was growing fast, but not this quickly.
The good news: you don't need to evaluate 160 tools. Most practices only need to think about a handful of categories. Here's how I'd break it down.
The Big Story: Making Sense of 160+ Tools
The sheer volume of AI products entering veterinary medicine is creating a real problem for practice owners. There are too many options, too many claims, and not enough unbiased guidance on where to start.
Documentation and Scribes — This is where most practices should start. Tools like Shepherd TranscribeAI, CoVet, VetRec, Scribenote, Manta, and the newer Vetnio (backed by Y Combinator) listen during consultations and generate structured SOAP notes. The ROI is immediate and measurable. Less time writing records after hours, more consistent documentation, and reduced burnout. Scribenote alone has automated over 1.5 million medical records across 500+ clinics. If you only adopt one category of AI this year, make it this one.
Practice Management Systems with Built-In AI — This is the fastest-moving category. Platforms like Provet Cloud, Digitail, Shepherd, and Lupa are embedding AI directly into the practice management system. Lupa, a London-based startup, just raised $25 million and claims to save each vet 60 minutes per day. Provet's AI Scribe works natively inside their platform. The trend is clear that standalone tools are getting absorbed into all-in-one systems.
Client Communication and Scheduling — Tools like PetDesk and Weave handle appointment reminders, two-way messaging, online booking, and follow-ups. AI is making these smarter — automated triage, pre-visit screening questions, and 24/7 virtual receptionists that handle calls when your front desk can't. One newer tool, LiveTok, claims clinics see up to 40% more appointments from previously unanswered calls.
Diagnostic Imaging — AI-powered analysis of radiographs, ultrasounds, and MRIs is helping vets detect abnormalities faster. This category is more established in human medicine but rapidly entering vet practices. Companies like Esaote VET and BizVet are integrating AI into their imaging hardware. At the recent AHNTI conference in London, panelists discussed how AI in imaging is becoming a support tool that speeds up reporting without replacing the radiologist's expertise.
Clinical Decision Support — Tools that help with differential diagnosis, treatment planning, and drug interaction checks. Shepherd's DiagnoseAI and Digitail's AI Assistant both offer some version of this. Mars Petcare's RenalTech can predict feline chronic kidney disease up to two years before diagnosis using AI analysis of blood and urine data. This category has the most potential — and the most risk. As one panelist at AHNTI put it, the question the profession needs to ask is where AI crosses from assistive to autonomous, especially when it starts influencing diagnostic pathways outside of direct veterinary oversight.
Here's the key insight from this week. Don't start by asking "what's new." Start by asking "what's slowing my team down?" Find your biggest operational pain point and match a tool to that specific problem.
Quick Hits
Instinct Science acquired ScribbleVet. This is the acquisition that's making waves in the industry. ScribbleVet, a leading AI scribe platform serving thousands of vets, has been folded into Instinct's practice management ecosystem. ScribbleVet's founder is now leading product strategy at Instinct. This is exactly the consolidation pattern Provet warned about on LinkedIn this week — standalone AI tools getting absorbed into PIMS platforms, potentially narrowing your choices if you switch systems later. The question to ask: will your AI scribe still work if you change your practice management software?
Lupa raised $25 million and launched the world's first Veterinary AI Lab. The London-based startup now operates in 200+ clinics and claims 50x revenue growth since its seed round five months earlier. Their AI Lab, staffed by engineers from DeepMind, Meta AI, and Palantir, will develop and test new AI tools for clinical decision-making. This is serious money flowing into vet AI infrastructure.
70% of veterinarians worry about AI reliability. That stat comes from AVMA survey data shared by Provet this week. Another 54% cite data security concerns and 43% say lack of training is the barrier. These aren't AI skeptics. They are practitioners asking reasonable questions about tools being sold to them. If you're cautious about AI, you're not the minority.
The AHNTI conference in London featured a major panel on AI's impact in animal health. Key takeaway from Dr. Adele Williams-Xavier: as AI tools increasingly influence diagnostic pathways and client decision-making, the profession needs to be asking where the boundaries are, especially tools that operate outside direct veterinary oversight.
Tool Spotlight: VetMedicine.ai
What it is: An independent, structured index of over 160 AI tools, platforms, and research shaping veterinary medicine. Built by Dr. Karen Bolten, DVM, MBA.
Why it matters: This is the most comprehensive catalog of veterinary AI tools that exists. It organizes AI into three categories: Clinical AI (imaging, diagnostics, decision support), Operational AI (scribes, scheduling, client communication), and Strategic & Research AI (publications, product evaluation, ethics and regulation).
Who it's for: Veterinarians and practice owners, veterinary specialists, AI and software vendors, and researchers and educators. Basically anyone trying to understand what's available before committing to a vendor.
What makes it different: It's independent and designed to reduce AI confusion through unbiased, ethical education. No vendor bias, no hype. Dr. Bolten built it because the profession is adopting AI faster than formal guidance, regulation, or education can keep up.
Status: Currently in waitlist mode ahead of launch. Sign up at vetmedicine.ai — one email at launch, that's it.
Full disclosure: I have no relationship with Dr. Bolten or VetMedicine.ai. This is an independent overview based on publicly available information.
From the Field
One of the most common reasons AI scribe adoption stalls has nothing to do with the technology — it’s an expectations gap.
Practices that struggle early on tend to expect a perfectly finished note from day one. The ones that succeed treat the AI output as a strong first draft — already structured, already organized — that they review and refine.
The mental shift from “blank screen” to “editing a draft” is where the real time savings happen. If you’re evaluating any AI scribe, set your benchmark at “better than what I’m doing now,” not “flawless.”
One Thing to Try This Week
Go to vetmedicine.ai and sign up for the waitlist. Then, while you wait for access, make a list of the three tasks that eat up the most time in your practice each week. Rank them. When the index launches, search for tools that solve your #1 time drain first. Don't browse the full list of 160+ tools. That's how you get overwhelmed and do nothing. Pick one problem. Find one solution. Test it.
That's Issue #2. Every Thursday, you get a fresh edition covering the AI tools, trends, and decisions that matter for your practice.
If this was useful, forward it to a colleague. If you have questions or want to share how your practice is navigating AI adoption, reply to this email. I read everything.
— Jacob
P.S. The Instinct/ScribbleVet acquisition raises a big question: should your AI tools be independent or built into your practice management system? I'm digging into that for a future issue. If you have thoughts, hit reply.
