One of my favorite things about The Pitt is the way in which some small interaction or patient visit at the beginning of the season can turn into something massive as the 12-plus-hour shift carries on. While I’m reading a lot of chatter about a possible romance between two doctors and reckless motorcycle decisions, there’s something about the show’s second season I haven’t seen discussed yet: AI in the hospital.
Shortly after the critically acclaimed The Pitt Season 2 premiered on the 2026 TV schedule, I was caught by a brief scene involving new attending physician Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi) talking about a new AI scribe that can not only lighten the medical staff’s charting load but also improve satisfaction with care across the board. Though there is some promise, I can’t help but get a bad feeling about this.
What’s the saying about the road to Hell and good intentions?
I Totally Understand Why Dr. Baran Wants To Modernize The Pitt
Don’t get me wrong, and don’t take me as some artificial intelligence alarmist, as I totally understand why the new attending physician would want to modernize “The Pitt.” It’s chaotic, it’s stressful, and it’s an emergency room where split-second decisions are required to save the lives of patients.
I’m no doctor, but from what I’ve gathered from the show and other great medical series over the years, charting (documenting everything about a patient and their care) seems like it adds even more work and stress to already overworked and overstressed medical professonals. In one scene, Dr. Baran says the new tech can lead to staff spending 80% less time charting while also improving patient and physician satisfaction. That’s promising on multiple levels, but I still have a bad feeling about where this is going.
We’ve Already Seen Her AI Tool Make A Mistake, And I Think It’s Going To Get Worse
In the second episode, titled “8:00 a.m.,” Dr. Baran and the medical students use the new AI scribe during an examination of a patient to see how it will perform in the real world. Everything goes fine during the exam: the medical staff breezes through the check-up, the patient is in good spirits, and everyone seems open to the idea.
However, when looking over the information on the computer, Dr. Dennis Whitaker (Gerran Howell) quickly notices that the AI-generated report says the patient takes Risperdal, an antipsychotic, when she is actually prescribed to Restoril, which she uses to go to sleep. While Dr. Baran brushes this off as a lesson to the staff and tells them they need to proofread everything, my anxiety went through the roof.
Though I’m not saying this is going to happen, I have a bad feeling that some kind of error with AI tech is going to turn into a major crisis for Dr. Baran or someone else at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. I keep waiting for that gut-punch, and I’m not looking forward to it if or when it comes.
Will something bad happen, or is this just my anxiety getting the best of me? I guess the only way to find out is by watching new episodes of The Pitt on Thursdays with my HBO Max subscription.
