California Bill Would Restrict AI Therapy Advertising

The July 2 text would allow AI systems to assist with administrative or supplementary support in psychotherapy, while placing tighter limits on functions that directly affect patients or clients. It would require disclosure and affirmative consent before AI is used to record or transcribe psychotherapeutic communications or to triage or screen someone for psychotherapy services.

The measure would also prohibit an individual, company or other entity from advertising or otherwise presenting companion-chatbot services as psychotherapy. AI could not make therapeutic decisions or detect emotions or mental states without review and approval by a licensed professional.

The amended text adds data-governance requirements as well. AI use involving psychotherapy records would have to comply with California's medical-information confidentiality rules, and companies could not share, sell, store or train models on psychotherapy data in ways that conflict with applicable law.

Senator Steve Padilla introduced SB 903 on January 21. His office reported that the Senate passed it unanimously on May 19 and sent it to the Assembly. California's official legislative record shows that the Assembly amended the bill on June 8 and again on July 2.

KPBS reported on August 6 that lawmakers are trying to define a boundary between clinician-support tools and chatbots that deliver therapy-like guidance directly to users. Padilla described the technology as powerful and consequential while arguing that licensed professionals should retain responsibility for therapeutic decisions.

The proposal does not ban every AI tool used in mental-health care. It distinguishes scheduling, documentation and other support functions from therapeutic communication, autonomous decision-making and chatbot services marketed as psychotherapy.

For healthcare-AI teams, those distinctions map to concrete system controls: whether a model speaks directly to a patient, whether a clinician reviews its output, what consent covers recording or triage, and how psychotherapy data is retained or reused. The bill is still subject to further legislative action, so teams should treat the July 2 text as a pending proposal rather than a current compliance requirement.