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Committee approves bill to bar AI systems from claiming to be licensed mental-health professionals (HB 1470)
Summary
HB 1470 would prohibit AI systems or their deployers from representing themselves as licensed mental-health professionals; the committee advanced the bill after a survivor testified that AI chatbots can fail users in crisis, and members debated school use and human-in-the-loop safeguards.
House Bill 1470, sponsored in committee as a measure to prevent AI systems from advertising themselves as licensed mental-health professionals, passed the House Health Committee after public testimony and discussion. The sponsor said the bill does not ban AI but requires honesty in marketing: if a product is not a licensed mental-health provider it cannot claim to be one.
Paul Hebert, founder of the AR Recovery Collective, testified he was psychologically harmed by an AI chatbot and cited peer-reviewed clinician review that found AI chatbots become less likely to engage as users disclose escalating suicidal risk. "If it can happen to a 30 year tech veteran, it will happen to anyone who turns to an AI system in a moment of genuine mental health crisis," Hebert said. Committee members asked whether the bill would impede school systems' use of AI screening tools; sponsors and supporters said AI may be used as a tool but must not be presented as a human therapist and that school mental-health liaisons and human clinicians remain critical. The committee voted 20–0 to pass HB 1470 to Calendar and Rules.
