PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) —As lawmakers in Harrisburg continue to wrestle with guidelines for artificial intelligence, a State House Majority Policy Committee held a hearing on its use in counseling and mental health treatment.
Delaware County Democrat Jennifer O’Mara sponsored a bill that would set standards and regulations for A-I systems that pose as counselors or therapists:
“We have to act now to make sure we're protecting consumers from AI, especially when it comes to mental health treatment,” she said.
Licensed counselor Curtis Taylor said he’s not anti-A-I, noting potential value in training and education, but worries that investors and tech companies could see it as a way to make money:
“I also don't want to see insurance companies viewing it as a way to triage, like, ‘Oh, your plan covers, you know, six counseling sessions, but only after you've done six months of triage with our chatbot’ or something like that,” he shared.
Some of those who testified agreed with Taylor about the dangers of AI posing as a therapist, while others added that AI is a broad term and any laws need to be flexible to allow for usage as supplementary tools used in tandem with a human counselor.