Summary
Restricts the use of artificial intelligence systems in psychotherapy services. Regulated psychotherapy professionals may use AI for administrative or supplementary support if they remain responsible for reviewing AI outputs and comply with privacy and security law. The law bars AI from therapeutic communication without real-time professional involvement, bars AI-generated therapeutic recommendations or treatment plans without professional review and approval, requires written informed consent before AI recording or transcription of therapeutic sessions, and prohibits misleading AI representations that imply psychotherapy services, professional endorsement, or confidentiality.
Healthcare Implications
Creates direct guardrails for AI use in mental and behavioral health care. Psychotherapy providers must keep human professional involvement in therapeutic workflows, obtain written consent before AI recording or transcription, review AI outputs used for clinical support, and prevent AI tools from being marketed or presented as substitutes for regulated psychotherapy services. Vendors and deployers of psychotherapy-related AI tools face consumer-protection and professional-discipline risk for misleading interfaces, advertising, or outputs.
Operational Implications
- Regulated psychotherapy professionals may not allow AI to interact with clients in therapeutic communication without synchronous, real-time interaction among the professional, the AI system, and the client; AI may not generate therapeutic recommendations or treatment plans without professional review and approval, and may not provide, direct, or guide psychotherapy, clinical intervention, counseling, diagnosis, or treatment planning unless statutory conditions are satisfied.
- Before using AI to record or transcribe a therapeutic session, the provider must inform the client or representative in writing that AI will be used and for what specific purposes, obtain written informed consent, and respect refusal or revocation without denying psychotherapy services.
- A person may not provide, advertise, or offer psychotherapy services through AI unless the services are provided by a regulated professional, and may not use AI advertising, interface, or outputs to imply professional endorsement, equivalence to psychotherapy services, or confidentiality protections for user data.