Every headline these days makes it sound like AI is going to rewrite the world overnight and render human jobs obsolete in 5 years.
Having assisted with software development for veterinary practices for over 15 years, we see a very different story at the coal face. AI is incredible in very specific areas, but deceptively weak in others, especially when used to replace human judgment in small businesses.
The “Magic Prompt” Trap
You’ve probably seen influencers selling custom “prompts” for hundreds of dollars, promising they will magically transform your business. Our advice? Walk away.
A “prompt” is simply the instruction or question you type into an AI tool:
- Simple Prompt: “Find me a cheap second-hand theatre light near Sydney.”
- Complex Prompt: “Find me a cheap second-hand theatre light near Sydney under $2,000, less than 5 years old, and present the options in bullet points with a professional tone.”
Here’s the catch – ask an AI the exact same prompt twice, and you’ll get two different answers. Furthermore, as AI models update daily, outputs shift. You cannot quality control a system that yields a moving target. Relying on copy pasted prompts to answer client questions will eventually lead to errors. AI requires consistent human supervision.
Key Takeaway: Never buy prompt packages. Prompting is just asking clear questions, and no prompt provides a permanent, set and forget solution.
Why “Guardrails” Matter
By default, standard tools like ChatGPT or Gemini search the open internet, misinformation and all. To get reliable outputs, you need guardrails that restrict the AI to searching only trusted sources (like your practice’s internal client documents or protocols).
However, keeping AI within boundaries is harder than it looks. Even with explicit instructions, standard web interfaces frequently wander off topic. Achieving precise control usually requires custom software integration via APIs rather than basic web interfaces, something practice owners shouldn’t have to build themselves.
Coming Up Next…
In our next issue, we’ll look at where AI actually excels in veterinary medicine right now, including clinical note taking, smart PMS searches, and the real truth about AI diagnostic tools.
