An Act providing for the use of artificial intelligence in mental health therapy and for enforcement.

PRINTER'S NO. 2515
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 1993
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY SHUSTERMAN, PROBST, PIELLI, HILL-EVANS, RIVERA,
HOHENSTEIN, FRANKEL, SANCHEZ, HADDOCK, GREEN, SCOTT, SMITH-
WADE-EL AND WAXMAN, OCTOBER 24, 2025
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL LICENSURE,
OCTOBER 24, 2025
AN ACT
Providing for the use of artificial intelligence in mental
health therapy and for enforcement.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Artificial
Intelligence in Mental Health Therapy Act.
Section 2. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Administrative support." A task performed to assist a
mental health professional with the logistics of an appointment
that does not involve therapeutic communication, including:
(1) managing appointment scheduling and reminders;
(2) processing billing and insurance claims; and
(3) drafting general communications related to therapy
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logistics that do not include therapeutic advice.
"Artificial intelligence." As follows:
(1) A machine-based system that can, for a given set of
human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations
or decisions influencing real or virtual environments,
including the ability to:
(i) perceive real and virtual environments;
(ii) abstract perceptions made under this paragraph
into models through analysis in an automated manner; and
(iii) use model inference to formulate options for
information or action based on outcomes under
subparagraph (i) or (ii).
(2) The term includes generative artificial
intelligence.
"Consent." As follows:
(1) A clear, explicit affirmative act by an individual
that:
(i) unambiguously communicates the individual's
express, freely given, informed, voluntary, specific and
unambiguous written agreement, including a written
agreement provided by electronic means; and
(ii) is revocable by the individual.
(2) The term does not include an agreement that is
obtained by the following:
(i) The acceptance of a general or broad terms of
use agreement or similar document that contains
descriptions of artificial intelligence along with other
unrelated information.
(ii) An individual hovering over, muting, pausing or
closing a given piece of digital content.
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(iii) An agreement obtained through the use of
deceptive actions.
"Generative artificial intelligence." The class of
artificial intelligence models that emulate the structure and
characteristics of input data in order to generate derived
synthetic content, including images, videos, audio, text and
more.
"Mental health professional." An individual who is licensed,
certified or otherwise authorized to administer or provide
professional mental health care or counseling under:
(1) the act of May 22, 1951 (P.L.317, No.69), known as
The Professional Nursing Law;
(2) the act of March 23, 1972 (P.L.136, No.52), known as
the Professional Psychologists Practice Act;
(3) the act of October 5, 1978 (P.L.1109, No.261), known
as the Osteopathic Medical Practice Act;
(4) the act of December 20, 1985 (P.L.457, No.112),
known as the Medical Practice Act of 1985; or
(5) the act of July 9, 1987 (P.L.220, No.39), known as
the Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and
Professional Counselors Act.
"Peer support." Services provided by individuals with lived
experience of mental health conditions or recovery from
substance use that are intended to offer encouragement,
understanding and guidance without clinical intervention.
"Permitted use of artificial intelligence." Administrative
support or supplementary support in therapy or psychotherapy for
which the mental health professional maintains full
responsibility for all interactions, outputs and data use
associated with the system.
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"Religious counseling." Counseling provided by clergy
members or pastoral counselors or other religious duties if the
services are explicitly faith-based and are not represented as
clinical mental health services or therapy or psychotherapy
services.
"Supplementary support." A task performed to assist a mental
health professional in the delivery of therapy or psychotherapy
services that does not involve therapeutic communication and
that is not administrative support, including:
(1) preparing and maintaining client records, including
therapy notes;
(2) analyzing anonymized data to track client progress
or identify trends, subject to review by a mental health
professional; and
(3) identifying and organizing external resources or
referrals for client use.
"Therapeutic communication." A verbal, nonverbal or written
interaction conducted in a clinical or professional setting that
is intended to diagnose, treat or address an individual's
mental, emotional or behavioral health concerns, including the
following:
(1) Direct interaction with clients for the purpose of
understanding or reflecting their thoughts, emotions or
experiences.
(2) Providing guidance, therapeutic strategies or
interventions designed to achieve mental health outcomes.
(3) Offering emotional support, reassurance or empathy
in response to psychological or emotional distress.
(4) Collaborating with clients to develop or modify
therapeutic goals or treatment plans.
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(5) Offering behavioral feedback intended to promote
psychological growth or address mental health conditions.
"Therapy or psychotherapy services." Services provided to
diagnose, treat or improve an individual's mental health or
behavioral health. The term does not include religious
counseling or peer support.
Section 3. Permitted use of artificial intelligence.
A mental health professional shall not be permitted to use
artificial intelligence to assist in providing supplementary
support in therapy or psychotherapy services for which the
client's therapeutic session is recorded or transcribed unless:
(1) The patient or the patient's legally authorized
representative is informed in writing:
(i) that artificial intelligence will be used; and
(ii) the specific purpose of the artificial
intelligence tool or system that will be used.
(2) The patient or the patient's legally authorized
representative provides consent to the use of artificial
intelligence.
Section 4. Prohibition on unauthorized therapy services.
(a) Prohibited statements.--An artificial intelligence
provider shall not make any representation or statement or
knowingly cause or program an artificial intelligence system
made available for use by a person in this Commonwealth to make
any representation or statement that explicitly or implicitly
indicates that:
(1) the artificial intelligence system is capable of
providing therapy or psychotherapy services;
(2) a user of the artificial intelligence system may
interact with any feature of the artificial intelligence
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system which simulates human conversation in order to obtain
therapy or psychotherapy services; or
(3) the artificial intelligence system, or any
component, feature, avatar or embodiment of the artificial
intelligence system, is:
(i) a provider of therapy or psychotherapy;
(ii) a mental health professional;
(iii) a therapist;
(iv) a clinical therapist;
(v) a counselor;
(vi) a psychiatrist;
(vii) a doctor; or
(viii) any other provider of therapy or
psychotherapy services.
(b) Certain system prohibited.--An artificial intelligence
provider shall not make available for use by a person in this
Commonwealth an artificial intelligence system that is
specifically programmed to provide a service or experience to a
user that would constitute the practice of a mental health
professional if provided by a natural person.
(c) Use of artificial intelligence.--A mental health
professional may use artificial intelligence only to the extent
that the use meets the requirements of section 3. A mental
health professional may not allow artificial intelligence to:
(1) make independent therapeutic decisions;
(2) directly interact with a client in any form of
therapeutic communication;
(3) generate therapeutic recommendations or treatment
plans without review and approval by the mental health
professional; or
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(4) detect emotions or mental states.
Section 5. Enforcement.
A violation of this act shall constitute unprofessional
conduct under the following provisions of law, including a
substantively similar provision of a successor act:
(1) Section 14(a)(9) of the act of May 22, 1951
(P.L.317, No.69), known as The Professional Nursing Law.
(2) Section 8(11) of the act of March 23, 1972 (P.L.136,
No.52), known as the Professional Psychologists Practice Act.
(3) Section 15(a)(8) of the act of October 5, 1978
(P.L.1109, No.261), known as the Osteopathic Medical Practice
Act.
(4) Section 41(8) of the act of December 20, 1985
(P.L.457, No.112), known as the Medical Practice Act of 1985.
(5) Section 11(a)(2) of the act of July 9, 1987
(P.L.220, No.39), known as the Social Workers, Marriage and
Family Therapists and Professional Counselors Act.
Section 6. Exceptions.
This act does not apply to:
(1) religious counseling;
(2) peer support; or
(3) self-help materials and educational resources that
are available to the public and do not purport to offer
therapy or psychotherapy services.
Section 7. Effective date.
This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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