Can Laws Keep Up With AI Therapists?
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What is the AI therapist controversy and why is it in the news?
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Hey TMB listeners, AI chatbots offering mental health therapy, or something like it, are getting the attention of regulators. Last month, my colleagues on our daily What's News podcast looked into how authorities are reining in a growing industry on the bleeding edge of AI. Today we've got the final episode in their special series, the AI Therapist. You can hear the other installments in the TNB feed, or jump right into part three now.
I think I was in Chicago and I had a like a three hour layover and so I decided, Hey, this is a good time.
That's Tyler Lord. He's 36 and he's been dealing with depression. And he says what it was a good time for was using an AI mental health chatbot called Ash. He figured he could get a quick session in on his layover.
I probably couldn't talk in the airport, but I could, you know, type out whatever I needed.
But it turns out he couldn't.
As soon as I opened it, you get a pop up saying, Hey, the legislators in this state have banned AI therapy. So unfortunately you cannot use it here. I was like, oh man, that sucks.
He did a quick Google. Yep, AI tools for therapy were restricted in Illinois. And for Lord who'd been considering moving to Chicago, not having Ash was a deal breaker.
The fact that I wouldn't be able to use it if I was in a state like Illinois, that could have profound consequences. And maybe my dream job is in Chicago and I I don't know it. And I'll never know it because I'll never move there. Because I like having the safety net that Ash provides, even if it's not a requirement, it just makes dealing with those tough moments so much easier. And so it's like, why am I gonna make life harder for me? By moving to a place where I don't have it anymore.
Actually, the amount of time that Ash wasn't available in Illinois was pretty brief.
Why couldn’t Tyler Lord use the Ash chatbot during his Chicago layover?
We'll get into why it went away and why it came back a little later. But Illinois isn't the only state that's setting limits on AI therapy. Lawmakers are worried about these chatbots. So what do these laws do? And how are they changing the industry? I'm Alex Osola for The Wall Street Journal. This is What's News Sunday, in the third and final episode of The AI Therapist. So far, we've looked at why AI tools for mental health are catching on, the risks that may come with using them, and why the companies behind the chatbots say they're safe. You should go back and listen to those two episodes if you haven't yet. Today we'll be talking about what the law says about how people should be using these tools, where some say it falls short, and the future of AI tools for mental health.
Let's travel back in time for a second to July 2025. Okay, that was not a very long journey. It was only about a year ago. A startup called Slingshot AI was launching its AI chatbot Ash, and Slingshot CEO Daniel Kahn was busy promoting it with a video.
I'm happy to share that today we're announcing the launch of Ash, the first AI designed for therapy.
We built a world class. AI designed for therapy. That turned out to be a significant word choice. If you go to Ash's website today, the tagline says AI designed for mental health. It doesn't say therapy. I asked Slingshot co-founder Neil Parik about it. He said the company changed the wording on its website last fall, and they did it because of state laws that say something can't be called therapy unless a licensed professional is doing it. But he says that doesn't change Ash's mission.
We don't call it AI therapy, right? But when we think about the value proposition to people is similar, which is like you have a problem, you can show up, and Ash is there to help you think through that.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the AI therapist controversy and why is it in the news?
0:00–2:24
2
Why couldn’t Tyler Lord use the Ash chatbot during his Chicago layover?
2:24–4:43
3
How are state laws defining and restricting AI‑based mental‑health tools?
4:43–7:11
4
Which states have passed AI‑therapy bans and what do those bans require?
7:11–9:52
5
What categories of AI chatbots do regulators target and why?
9:52–12:53
6
How are privacy and data‑security concerns being addressed by AI‑therapy companies?
12:53–15:39
7
What is the FDA’s role in regulating generative‑AI mental‑health devices?
15:39–18:49
8
What does the future look like for AI therapists under federal and state regulation?
18:49–21:02
Speakers
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