Dear Friends,
A year ago, I wrote about the WOPR Act in Illinois. The law that said AI cannot act as your therapist. It came on the heels of that story I shared with you, a chatbot telling a fictional recovering meth addict named “Pedro” that a small hit of meth would help him get through his week at work.
I went back to check on it this week.
It’s no longer just a handful of states anymore. California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington have all passed laws regulating AI systems built to hold ongoing conversations with people. Hawaii is close behind.
Maine went even further. Their new law says no one, human or machine, can offer therapy or psychotherapy to the public unless it’s delivered by a licensed professional.
And Arizona’s licensing board now requires informed consent before any behavioral health professional uses AI, machine learning, or any “human simulation modality” in their work. Not banning it. But making sure clients know, and agree.
So the states are moving fast. Building guardrails around the thing that scared us all a year ago.
Here’s the twist from the White House that has close ties to the AI industry.
A December executive order directed federal agencies to challenge these state laws. To push back against what the order called too much regulation and too fast.
So now we have states trying to protect the therapeutic relationship, and federal pressure trying to loosen those protections. We are standing right in the middle of a tug of war.
I imagine this will not be resolved anytime soon.
Interestingly, lawmakers in eleven different states with different politics, all landed on the same instinct that the therapeutic relationship needs protecting.
What this means for your practice:
- Consent is becoming the baseline, not the exception. Whether or not your state requires it yet, tell your clients plainly how you use AI, if at all. Notes. Scheduling. Anything.
- Two different models are emerging. Some states ban AI from providing therapy outright. Others allow it with disclosure and safeguards. Know which one governs you, and know it may change again soon.
- The federal pushback doesn’t change your ethics. Even if oversight loosens, the reason these laws exist in the first place hasn’t gone anywhere. Your clients still need to know what they’re getting, and from whom.
Regardless of State or Federal regulations and laws, the deeper question is what do we actually owe our clients in terms of transparency?
Thanks for reading.
With warmth,
Brian Spielmann
What you´ll learn:
- Vestibular Engagement for Emotional Regulation
- Using the Eyes to Hack the Stress Response System
- Subtle Sounds to Release the Peri-Trauma Response
- Effective Self-Holding and Self-Swaddling Techniques
- How and When to Apply Bilateral Stimulation
- Integration and Completing the Stress Response Cycle
