Health Law Advisor

Those in the tech world and in medicine alike see potential in the use of AI chatbots to support mental health—especially when human support is unavailable, or therapy is unwanted. Others, however, see the risks—especially when chatbots designed for entertainment purposes can disguise themselves as therapists.

So far, some lawmakers agree with the latter. In April, U.S. Senators Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) sent letters to the CEOs of three leading artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot companies asking them to outline, in writing, the steps they are taking to ensure that the human interactions with these AI tools “are not compromising the mental health and safety of minors and their loved ones.”

The concern was real: in October 2024, a Florida parent filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal district court, alleging that her son committed suicide with a family member’s gun after interacting with an AI chatbot that enabled users to interact with “conversational AI agents, or ‘characters.’” The boy’s mental health allegedly declined to the point where his primary relationships “were with the AI bots which Defendants worked hard to convince him were real people.”

On February 1, 2024, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued a final rule revising 42 CFR Part 8, which regulates opioid treatment programs (OTPs). The final rule is the first update to the OTP regulations in over 20 years, and significantly increases access to lifesaving medication while easing operational restrictions.

The agency eased admission requirements and cemented some of the telehealth and take-home dose flexibilities put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other changes streamline OTP operations, reduce restrictions on ...