Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the “Wellness and Oversight for Psychological Resources Act” into law on Friday, August 1, establishing new protections to shield mental health patients from unlicensed providers and unregulated artificial intelligence systems.

The new legislation mandates that therapy and psychotherapy services in Illinois must be provided by qualified, licensed professionals, and places strict limits on the role artificial intelligence can play in mental health care.

The Act’s principal goal is to safeguard individuals seeking therapy by ensuring all services are delivered by state-licensed or certified professionals. It was crafted to specifically address the growing prevalence of AI chatbots and automated therapy platforms, requiring that only human experts can provide clinical mental health services or psychotherapy. AI is allowed to assist with administrative or supplementary tasks, like appointment scheduling or preparing anonymized progress notes, but never in roles that involve direct therapeutic communication, diagnosis, or treatment of mental health issues.

Under the law, if any AI tool is used to analyze client sessions or therapy progress, patients must receive written notification and give explicit, revocable consent. The law clarifies that broad, catch-all consent forms, hovering over digital content, or agreements obtained by deceptive means are not considered valid consent.

Licensed therapists are to remain fully responsible for all AI outputs, interactions, and records. The law firmly prohibits AI systems from independently making therapeutic decisions, interacting with clients in clinical settings, generating treatment plans without human review, or attempting to detect emotional or mental states.

The Act carves out clear exceptions for religious counseling, peer support, and public self-help or educational materials, none of which are subject to these restrictions if they do not claim to offer psychotherapy.