Skillfully Adding AI To The HHS Pledge On Advancing Best Practices For National Mental Health Care

The piece discusses how a U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) pledge to advance best practices for national mental health care intersects with AI tools increasingly marketed for mental-health guidance. It notes that general-purpose large language models—citing examples such as ChatGPT, GPT-5, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Copilot—are not the same as human therapists, and that purpose-built AI systems are still largely in development and testing. It then surveys state-level AI mental-health laws being crafted to regulate AI guidance, while observing that Congress has not yet passed an overarching federal framework. The article argues that federal legislation could conflict with state rules, triggering legal battles, and references an earlier proposed 7-step process for balanced AI lawmaking.