In this episode of the AI at Vibe series on The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Rachel Chen, Senior Director of Engineering at Plaud, to talk about how a wearable AI device is helping clinicians reclaim the nearly 500 hours a year they spend on documentation. Rachel brings a wealth of engineering leadership experience from Geico, Aura, Amazon, and Prudential to her work scaling Plaud's voice intelligence platform, which is already used by 70,000 healthcare workers, including nurses, psychologists, and surgeons. From a real-world story about an orthopedic surgeon bridging language barriers with patients to a clear distinction between ambient scribing and platform partnership, this episode offers a grounded look at what responsible, scalable AI documentation can look like in clinical settings. In this episode, they talk about: Clinicians spend an average of two hours a day on documentation, adding up to nearly 500 hours a year Plaud's wearable device, NotePin S, is credit card-sized, hands-free, and built to last a full clinical shift Over 70,000 healthcare workers globally use Plaud every day, including nurses, psychologists, and surgeons Plaud's software includes built-in medical vocabulary, speaker differentiation, and SOAP note templates All audio is encrypted, the platform is fully HIPAA compliant, and patient data is never used to train AI models or shared with third parties Plaud positions itself as a developer platform and partner, not just another ambient documentation scribe Dr. William Chiu, an orthopedic surgeon, uses Plaud to bridge communication gaps with patients who speak English as a second language or are elderly Plaud's vision is to become a trusted AI work companion for 50 million professionals worldwide by 2030 Permission and intentional data handling are built into the product from the ground up, given the sensitivity of always-on wearable recording A Little About Rachel: Rachel Chen is a technology leader with extensive experience building and scaling consumer and enterprise platforms across fintech, health tech, and e-commerce. She has held engineering leadership roles at GEICO, Ōura, Amazon, and Prudential, and began her career at Yahoo. At Plaud, Rachel leads engineering initiatives to deliver enterprise-ready, AI-powered products, including collaboration tools, device management, and scalable platform services. She is passionate about building strong engineering cultures grounded in ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement.
