AI Frontier Institute

Health care professions: deceptive terms or letters: artificial intelligence.

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California Assembly Bill 489 (Chapter 615), signed October 11, 2025, adds Chapter 15.5 (Sections 4999.8–4999.9) to Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code. The law extends existing prohibitions on deceptive use of health care professional titles, terms, letters, or phrases to cover developers and deployers of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) systems. Specifically, Section 4999.9(b) makes these prohibitions enforceable against any person or entity that develops or deploys an AI or GenAI system whose advertising or functionality uses terms that falsely imply the system is a licensed health care professional. Section 4999.9(c) prohibits AI or GenAI technology from using any term, letter, or phrase that indicates or implies that care, advice, reports, or assessments are being provided by a natural person holding the appropriate health care license or certificate. Section 4999.9(d) treats each use of a prohibited term as a separate violation. Enforcement authority rests with the appropriate health care professional licensing board, which may also seek injunctions or restraining orders under Section 125.5. The bill expands the scope of existing crimes, constituting a state-mandated local program, though no state reimbursement to local agencies is required under the rationale provided in Section 2.

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