AI Frontier Institute

Psychotherapy Artificial Intelligence Restrictions

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House Bill 26-1195, signed by Governor Polis on June 3, 2026, limits how mental health professionals may use artificial intelligence and bars AI products from presenting themselves as therapy. It covers anyone licensed, registered or certified under article 245 of title 12 (psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, counselors, psychotherapists and addiction counselors) and anyone else lawfully permitted to provide psychotherapy in Colorado. They may use AI for administrative support (scheduling, billing, logistics) and supplementary support (records and therapy notes, progress tracking, referrals, structured symptom and mood data) if they review the outputs (12-245-224.5(2)), and any AI use must comply with state and federal privacy and security laws, including HIPAA (12-245-224.5(3)). Recording or transcribing a session with AI requires advance written notice of its purpose and the client's written consent, which the client can refuse or revoke without losing care; agreement buried in general terms of use does not count (12-245-224.5(1)(c), (4)). AI may not engage in therapeutic communication with a client unless the clinician takes part in real time, and may not produce therapeutic recommendations or treatment plans without the clinician's review and approval (12-245-224.5(5)). Clinicians must tell clients about these limits in writing at first contact (12-245-224.5(6)(b)), and a violation by a licensee, registrant or certificate holder is grounds for discipline (12-245-224(1)(y)). Separately, no one may advertise or present an AI system as providing psychotherapy, as equivalent to a licensed therapist, or as protecting data the way therapist-client confidentiality does (6-1-1705.2(1)). Accredited training programs (if the AI is not deployed or marketed for use with clients), research under an institutional review board (if the AI is not offered to consumers), and wellness tools that do not diagnose or treat and clearly say they are not clinical care are exempt, as are FDA-authorized tools that meet the same conditions. That advertising section does not make clinicians liable for AI defects attributable to the developer or deployer. The act applies to actions on or after its effective date, 90 days after the session adjourned (August 12, 2026, if adjournment was May 13), unless a referendum petition is filed against it.

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