Mai Ling Chan on AI, Collaboration, and Community

Most speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and our allied colleagues are unprepared for the AI tools sweeping through healthcare and education. In this episode, early adopter Mai Ling Chan exposes the hidden ethical pitfalls, the danger of AI hallucinations, and the isolation emerging tech can create in clinical practice. Discover how the same AI tools that promise efficiency may silently erode collaboration, credibility, and trust if we don't approach them with care. Mai Ling bridges her network of like minded disability advocates and thought leaders, advocating for ethical AI for clinicians and those we serve, and making sure we are inviting everyone to the table so that SLPs can feel informed and empowered in an AI-enabled world.

Main Topics Covered:

• Ethical considerations and the importance of a guided framework for AI use
• The impact of AI on collaboration and professional credibility
• Addressing hallucinations and errors in AI outputs. Hallucinations = Errors
• Workslop: Understanding inefficiencies introduced by AI workflows. Click here for the Harvard Business Review article
• Building inclusive networks for leadership, innovation, and community support with the Exceptional Leaders Network
• AI for SLPs Facebook Group - For SLPs and SLPAs only

More resources and information is available at SLPsTalkTech.com

Transcript

Leila 0:01

Today, we're talking to Mai Ling Chan, a multifaceted speech language pathologist, executive consultant, global connector, invited presenter, technology entrepreneur, and industry historian. She's also the founder of the Exceptional Leaders Network, where she supports and fosters a global ecosystem for disability and accessibility-focused thought leaders. On this episode, we're talking about the ethical challenges of implementing AI in speech therapy and how we can work together to support our colleagues in their generative AI learning journey. A very warm welcome Mai Ling Chan. I'm so happy to have you here on SLP's Talk Tech. Welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having me. We're so excited to have you on. We're going to talk more about your role as an innovator and as an SLP entrepreneur. First, I know that at the end of the summer, you spoke for ASHA's SIAB, that's the School Issues Advisory Board at their annual meeting. And you got the opportunity to present and talk about AI for SLPs in schools. What was the response you got?

Speaker 1 1:26

They were they were very curious. And so it's still that way. You know, it's like the the the 10% who have not tried AI at all. And it's so intriguing because here we are. We have people that haven't tried AI yet. And now we're talking about, yeah, but how do you use it in in SLP clinical practice? You know. Yeah. There's no guidance. I think that's a thing. And so that's what I asked them at the end. And they probably know it already. I was like, but we need a task force to guide us because there are so many ethical considerations. Um I do that in my presentations. I actually align with our um Asha code of ethics. And I say, you know, we've agreed according to this, and we've all seen it every three years, you know, we agree that we are going to, you know, take uh precautions and security for the HIPAA information of our clients. You know, we are going to do collaboration with other um professionals, like all of these things. And so I'm able to show this one-to-one correlation of the more we use things like ChatGPT or these LLMs, the less we're collaborating with people because we're like, oh, tell us what would an OT think or what would they recommend? And so now I don't need to go down the hall and talk to my fellow OT. Um and it's just, it's, you know, becoming very isolating, a great way to put it.

Leila 2:50

I know that always that part always stresses me out, really thinking about how access to so much information at your fingertips like may actually make us less collaborative. Like I really worry about that because I think one of the magic, you know, one of the magical qualities of a speech language pathologist is this very innate creative ability to um to bridge communication where it's difficult. And so I think about that a lot, just kind of in the back of my head.

Speaker 1 3:25

Um Leila, what about all the people who haven't been exposed and have no idea that there are errors? And we're calling them hallucinations because that's like the trendy term. But the fact is it just makes stuff up. It's not real. It's not true. And we're taking that information and we're using it, like, you know, whether it's professionally, whether it's um supportive information, educational materials, you know, whatever. And your credibility is on the line.

Leila 3:50

Yeah, it's interesting because both you and I, especially like in 2025, we've given multiple talks about AI. And I keep on going back to my bias and hallucinations slide and having to update it. And I know we were both talking about this at the end of the summer because the latest um model of ChatGPT or the latest version of ChatGPT did actually have a much smaller percentage for hallucination rate than previous models. Because I think when I had largely reported on it last January, we were looking at like 30% of errors, right? And now we're looking at something closer to like 11%. But still, one in 10 is like still a good amount of errors.

Speaker 1 4:35

For your listeners, for our listeners here, like think about that. 10% of the time you're wrong. You put information in there, you're sharing it, you're telling somebody information, and it's just wrong. Like they literally make the information up. I mean, it's hard to wrap your head around. So if you just grab and go, you ask it a question, it gives you the answer, you put it in your, you know, your uh slideshow, or you talk about it at the next meeting, and you are wrong, what does that do to your professional credibility?

Leila 5:03

Totally, totally. Um one other thing that uh you and I have been talking about is work slop. In the AI for SLP's Facebook group in one of our live chats, we talked about um this article about work slop, which came out from the Harvard Business Review. And uh just a quick recap on that article, if um folks haven't read it, uh essentially work slop is defined as work products that don't actually advance a task, but it's something you're passing back and forth between colleagues and more work is actually required to understand uh perhaps what was really said in this email. Or did you actually make revisions to this document that I shared with you? And we're finding that when people are using AI for some work tasks, it's actually just making more work for your colleagues. And so I worry about kind of clinical slop that's coming for us. Um and so yeah, so I kind of just wanted to chat with you around, you know, like these big, big questions like ethics and hallucinations. And, you know, you are an early adopter of technologies, and you know, you've been doing a lot of really meaningful community building in the SLP innovator space. So I'm just so happy to be having conversations with someone like yourself about AI and this future of clinical practice, now thinking about this new technology that we have to learn and learn how to work with, learn when to apply, you know, and the kind of the questions like go on and on and on. Thank you.

Speaker 1 6:38

Layla, you're you're my girl crush, like we're nerds, which I love. Like I finally realize that like I love video games and I love technology, you know. And then I find someone like yourself, and I love that you're so like evidence-based research, data, you know, driven. And I'm like on the fun side of it, right? And so I think connecting with people like you and our other, um, you mentioned the Facebook group like Lavelle Carlson and Dr. Michelle Boisert, like we come from all different perspectives. And that's what I love, you know, that we're looking at the same technology with a different lens. And that group is interesting because again, I think it's just still so new. So we put stuff in there, and every time we do, we are trying to align it with how does this um how is this relevant for speech language pathology?

Leila 7:20

I've been catching myself just casually dropping ASR. And people are like, like other clinicians, they're like, what? And I'm like, oh, automatic speech recognition, like talking to Siri, and they're like, oh, okay.

Speaker 1 7:30

Think about that. How does that make the intro person feel? You know, they feel so much far, so much farther behind. And when we think about like something like the microwave, so that came out, and I remember that the um person I was dating at the time, his mom, older, she was like, I'm not gonna use that, I'm never gonna use that. I put it in the oven, and I'm a Jersey girl, so that was definitely the accent, you know. And I was like, my gosh, it's gonna take you like three hours to reheat that in the oven, right? Why would you do that when you have this new fancy technology? Right? It's like, and then you find out like people are making like whole dinners in the microwave. And I was like, oh, it's crazy. But think about the air fryer. So air fryer came out, everybody got an air fryer, and I was like, okay, I can do french fries, and like that's where I kind of stopped because I hate to cook, but other people are making full meals in the air fryer, right? And so I stopped with my own like iterations and understanding it. So I do like very minimal stuff, but I'm amazed with what people do with that. But the timeline for like the air fryer and how fast it became popular is nothing compared to what's going on with AI. I mean, you miss a day, you miss a lot. And you know this, Leila. Like we have these emails that come and it tells you this just happened. Anthropic did this, Claude did this. You know, like I miss one day of reading a follow-up and I'm like, what, that happened last week? Like, what what you can do that?

Leila 8:42

It's so true. It's so true. Um you and I have both spent a lot of time talking about technology and applying technology in the clinic, right? So, my background and my area of um focus is in AAC and assistive technology in schools. So I know that if I get a new teacher who's never seen an AAC device before, I have to start at level one. So this device talks and this can be used as their voice. I like know in my head, because I have the script down of how to do this kind of like um AAC 101 training for an educator. And I am really hopeful that in the next year, maybe we can start to have these resources available for clinicians. Because when it comes to AI 101 for clinicians, I love the way, you know, you keep on bringing it back to the new folks and bringing the new folks in. And we can't just keep on moving the conversation forward without bringing in the everyone else who hasn't joined us yet. And I I love that about you and and I love for you to talk a little bit about the exceptional leaders network and how this is kind of like a really a philosophy that is, you know, not just you as a provider, this is also like you as a person, and you've created this network to talk about leadership and to bring more people in. So if if you wouldn't mind just talking a little bit about that for a moment.

Speaker 1 10:11

Thank you. I really appreciate that. Um, what I've realized after all these years and eight years of podcasting, so congratulations on your new podcast, I realized that everybody is coming to these like new ideas, these new products, these new services with the same lens, which is like we didn't go to um business school, you know, we didn't go to pick that product that you're creating, let's say it's an AAC device, like we didn't become an engineer, like whatever it is. But we came to this new creation with the passion, the commitment, um, the vision that we're gonna help more people. So that's the through line. And then we end up being so siloed and so isolated because now, oh my gosh, I'm running a business and or I'm running a nonprofit, or I've become the brand, the face, you know, for this little known diagnosis and really don't know what I'm doing, but I really, really feel compelled that I can make a difference in the world and help more people. And so the more and more that I interviewed people and heard their story, I kept hearing the same thing. You know, this is so hard. This is so hard. And if you go out to the general business resources like your Koanis, you know, like these um like networking groups, we're losing this uniqueness of being in the disability space in the disability community, which is very, very unique and special and also not that big, right? So everybody kind of knows everybody and we want to help each other. And so what I realized is the word network, like that's what we needed was our own specific connections to each other where we can say, Oh, yeah, you know what? I know Leila with SLPs Talk Tech, and you be great on her podcast. And the person's like, oh, really? You know, I I have no idea about that. And it's like, yay, I know you're an OT, but what you're doing to create something for SLPs is relevant. And so, like asking people to get out of these, I call them the fishbowl, the silo, and really start to connect with people, you know, who are in the greater disability community. And it has been absolutely fascinating, Leila, and so um successful because people are inter-collaborating, which is what we want. You know, we have parents working with speech therapists, working with OTs, working with a special education teacher, um, an investor, all these different people, but we all have that same focus, which is uplifting and supporting the disability community.

Leila 12:23

Yeah.

Speaker 1 12:23

No, absolutely.

Leila 12:25

Thank you so much. I I'm so happy to have you as a colleague in this AI and you know, new technology space. I've loved bouncing ideas around with you and talking to you about ethics and privacy. I feel like you please come back so we can do this again.

Speaker 1 12:42

So I mean there's so much. Like, wow, like I have three more bullets here that I could have gone through. But the big the most important thing is that people like you and um other people who are not afraid, you know, to test the boundaries um and question that you guys are on the forefront of this. And we need you there. We need you to be thought leaders, we need you to provide guidance um and help to lead. And there are people that are doing research. Like I actually have a couple um ones that are being done at different universities, like exactly how are people including Chat GPT into their clinical, you know, services? So, I mean, this is it's happening so fast. Um, so thank you for putting in the time and the effort, things like this, you know, elevating other people's voices and perspectives because we're all still learning together. It's gonna be a while.

Leila 13:27

So, one parting question that I have for you. Um, here I'm asking all my guests who've been coming on to chat with me, um, is the following. If you could have AI do one task for you, so to automate something in your life, would it be a personal or professional task? And what would it be?

Speaker 1 13:49

So I got diagnosed with ADHD um about two and a half years ago. And that that changed like my whole perspective on myself and my self-talk and my self-love. And it was an amazing journey for me and my family, like my parents, and to to go back and really understand Little May. And one of the things I keep seeing is that there are ADHDers who are using these programs and it's really helping them to organize and systematize their lives. But honestly, I have my system, like you know, what's on my calendar today. I cannot find a way to then like brain dump in the morning into these systems, and then it will, again, like prioritize everything. But like everything that's on your calendar, like so it was, you know, SLPs Talk Tech was my interview today at this time. But you know what? I need to go pick up the mail that I didn't pick up last week because I was away. And I need to like take back this um vacuum cleaner that I that I don't want. Like there's all these little things that that weigh on my mind, right? And the clothes that I put in the dryer that I never took out and folded, and I have to call my mother and you know, us ADHDers, like I'll go in and take clothes out, and guess what? Now I'm doing five other things and I missed my tech talk or my talk, my podcast interview, right? Because my watch didn't beat. So it's like my one thing. I know you told me that to be prepared for this, and I was like, my gosh, it would be a personal assistant that is with me like all day, and just if I could verbalize it because they can't hear my thoughts, verbalize all these things and organize that, that would be amazing.

Leila 15:16

Yeah, I love that. I love that. As you know, I'm a mom of two young kids, and it's so hard to keep it all together. Um, yeah, and organization is huge. I know so many speech pathologists are blessed, I would say, with uh some incredible organization skills. But yeah, that's a great one. Thank you so much for sharing and coming and talking with me about emerging tech and AI in our field. I'm looking forward to talking with you more. Thank you. Take care. SLP's Talk Tech is produced by Leila Denna Staiger and Home-Views Incorporated. This podcast is a part of SLP's Talk Tech, a community designed to connect clinicians, researchers, and innovators as they explore speech language pathology in the AI era. You can learn more or listen at SLP's talktech.com or wherever you get your podcasts.