Until about 2010, ambient listening meant turning your headphones to silent to subtly listen in on other people’s business. It was momentarily interesting, but also nosy and the content was largely lacking in context.

Critics of ambient listening argue the medical version is much the same - accuracy, privacy, and consent remain the chief challenges.

But that hasn’t stopped new ones from popping up on an almost weekly basis. A 2025 deep dive found 117 ambient listening/AI scribe tools on the market at present.

Clearly they’re seen by many as the future, but can they overcome the hurdles in front of them?