“Nobody Agrees on the Rules Yet. Here’s the Map.”
In May, Pennsylvania sued an AI company over a chatbot that invented a medical license. I wrote about that here — first state enforcement action of its kind. But Pennsylvania is just one square on a much bigger, much messier board, and I think families deserve to see the whole thing at once.
Here’s where every state actually stands right now, according to a new KFF roundup:
Illinois, Nevada, Tennessee, Vermont, and Rhode Island have already passed laws saying AI can’t independently offer itself as mental health care, or even advertise itself that way. Colorado and Vermont carved out an exception — AI can help licensed professionals with administrative tasks, just not replace them. California and Pennsylvania both have bills pending that would block AI from delivering psychotherapy on its own. Utah took a completely different road: no ban, just required privacy protections and disclosure. Rhode Island layered on a rule that patients have to be told and consent when AI is documenting their clinical visit. Pennsylvania and New Jersey both have disclosure-focused bills in the pipeline too.
Five different postures, and that’s not counting the states that haven’t done anything yet.
California’s version of this is SB 903 — a bill that would stop companies from advertising chatbots as therapy. I wrote about that one too, and the thing that struck me reading the coverage was who got quoted: a legislator, a professional association, a labor union, a tech lobbyist, a bioethicist. Not one family. Not one person who’s actually lived through what happens when a chatbot stands in for care.
Here’s why none of this is theoretical: 16% of adults — and 28% of adults under 30 — say they’ve already used AI for mental health information or advice in the past year. That’s not a future policy debate. That’s happening in houses right now, tonight, while the states figure out the rules after the fact.
So if you’re a family managing serious mental illness, here’s the uncomfortable truth this map reveals: the protections you have — or don’t have — depend entirely on which state you happen to live in. That’s not a system. That’s a patchwork, and patchworks have holes.
📖 Connected Care — available now on Amazon. https://a.co/d/09KgVVDj
Thank you for this Nicole. This is getting more serious day by day. The idea that a state would allow a chat bot to do psychotherapy on a mental illness struggler is INSANE! Wake up people. This is not of God or normal. Why would we allow our children, some of which struggle with major mental illness and suicidal thinking, and give their therapy over to a computer. Just saying.
I know. I so agree. Keep ranting with me!! LOL