Artificial Intelligence (AI): Additional Resources and Guidance

ASHA’s Code of Ethics resources describe your responsibility to your client, patient, student and anyone under your supervision with respect to using technology tools like generative AI in clinical practice. The Assistants Code of Conduct also offers information, which may help audiology assistants (AAs) and speech-language pathology assistants (SLPAs) working with their supervisor and using generative AI technology in clinical activities. Rely on ASHA’s Evidence Maps to validate and verify content created using generative AI.

Implementing the AI Product

Audiologists and SLPs are already using generative AI as just one tool in their clinical toolkit. Your clinical expertise will help you decide when and when not to use generative AI tools. As you develop your skills using generative AI, consult the following organizations to ensure compliance:

your employer
your school district
state and federal laws and regulations
payer policies.

In the absence of specific guidance, it remains essential that the clinician exercise professional judgment and ethical consideration.

Suggestions ASHA offers the following suggestions to any audiologist or SLP who is considering the use of generative AI in their clinical work.

Determine how you’ll assess the quality, relevance, and impact of the AI tool on your workload and service delivery.
Evaluate the potential benefits by asking yourself these questions:
- Does the paid version provide enhanced data security or features (compared with what the free alternatives are offering)?
- Do I truly need a paid version?

Reflect regularly on whether the use of the tool is ___________ for your practice setting (fill in the blank):

necessary
beneficial
simply optional

Your workplace or facility, including school districts or individual schools, may have specific guidance or policies about employee use of generative AI. In conjunction with federal and state laws, regulations, and payer policies, you may consider using guidance from sources such as:

ASHA Resources

AI in Scholarly Publishing: Positives and Pitfalls—ASHA staff wrote this Leader Blog to assist authors and peer reviewers considering using generative AI for publishing.
Artificial Intelligence in Speech Science: Exploring Real-World Research Applications and Ethical Considerations—This recorded Zoom session, led by Imran Musaji, was produced by Special Interest Group 19 (Speech Science).
ASHA CE Find—The results of a curated search on the term “artificial intelligence”
ASHAWire Special Collection on Generative AI — A collection of curated articles from across all of the publications on ASHAWire—journals, SIG Perspectives, and the ASHA Leader magazine and blog—plus links to resources for learning more.
How Will Artificial Intelligence Reshape Speech-Language Pathology Services and Practice in the Future? – ASHA Journals Academy is one discussion of how AI might shape speech-language pathology services for people who experience degenerative disease.
Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT by Speech-Language Pathologists and Students—This ASHA Journals article, published in AJSLP, recounts experiences from SLPs and students who responded to a survey on their knowledge of generative AI for professional practice.
Practical and Ethical Integration of AI: Empowering the School-Based SLP—This ASHA Professional Development course will assist in integrating AI into your practice responsibly and effectively to enhance student outcomes and workload management.
Start Small, Dream Big: Getting Started With Generative AI—This ASHA Professional Development course, taught by Senior Director of Analytics at ASHA) offers a comprehensive introduction to generative AI.
What To Ask When Evaluating Any Procedure, Product, or Program—This ASHA resource offers clinicians additional information for how to identify risks and benefits before choosing to use technology-powered tools like generative AI.

Resources for Ethical Considerations

AI, Ethics and Social Justice – Guides at Texas Tech University serves as a reference point, offering definitions and ethical considerations for using AI in responsible and fair ways.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Speech Pathology: Ethical Considerations is guidance created by Speech Pathology Australia to inform SLPs in Australia of ethical principles and obligations of professionals who use AI in practice activities.
Ethical Guidance for AI in the Professional Practice of Health Service Psychology—This APA article cites examples of how psychologists are using generative AI in clinical practice.

Examples of AI Guides

ATIA Policy Briefs – Assistive Technology Industry Association offers a policy framework to improve assistive technology (AT) and educational environments using AI in education.
Framework for Responsible AI Integration in PreK-20 Education – CIDDL recommends a structured and actionable approach for PreK-20 education to adopt AI tools to address instructional practices, protect student rights, and empower educators.
The Joint Commission and Coalition for Health AI Join Forces to Scale the Responsible Use of AI in Delivering Better Healthcare shares plans for a collaboration to develop responsible and ethical guidance for U.S. healthcare systems including AI guidance, tools, and a certification program.
The Responsible AI Guide from the Center for Health AI serves as a playbook for the development and deployment of AI in healthcare, providing actionable guidance on ethics and quality assurance.

Using Generative AI

Is There Any Room for ChatGPT AI Bot in Speech-Language Pathology?—This open-access article offers recommendations for SLPs who may want to use ChatGPT for clinical activities.
Using ChatGPT in Medical Education for Virtual Patient and Cases—This article provides examples of how students might use generative AI tools to create practice scenarios or simple case studies.