Pennsylvania schools could be barred from using artificial intelligence to counsel struggling students under a bill introduced by state Sen. Nick Miller, who argues chatbots simply cannot be trusted to recognize when a teenager is in crisis. The proposal arrives as school districts nationwide increasingly turn to AI tools to fill gaps left by counselor shortages, raising fresh questions about where technology belongs in student mental health care and where it doesn't.
What Senate Bill 1505 Would and Wouldn't Do
Miller, a Democrat representing Pennsylvania's 14th Senate District covering parts of Lehigh and Northampton Counties, introduced Senate Bill 1505 to stop schools from using AI to provide mental or behavioral health services that would otherwise be handled by trained mental health professionals, according to WTAJ. The bill would not touch the administrative side of the job; mental health professionals could still lean on AI for scheduling, organizing records and managing files. It is positioned as a companion to upcoming House legislation from Rep. Melissa L. Shusterman, whose own proposal for the 2025-2026 session carries the same title, Prohibiting Artificial Intelligence for Student Mental Health Services, per the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
Miller's case against AI counseling rests on a straightforward concern: the technology can get it wrong when the stakes are highest. He argues that artificial intelligence can generate inaccurate or unsafe advice and lacks the professional judgment necessary to properly recognize and respond to a student in a mental health crisis, the station's report states. He has also said students who are struggling should be able to rely on trusted adults at school, and that technology should support rather than substitute for the relationships central to students' mental health care. The bill now awaits deliberation in the Senate Education Committee.
A Crisis Outpacing the Counselor Supply
The push comes against a backdrop of strained teen mental health and a shortage of professionals to address it. About 40% of high school students reportedly experienced persistent sadness or hopelessness, with roughly 20% having seriously considered suicide in 2023, according to the CDC's figures cited by EdSource. Researchers from RAND, per the same outlet, found that about one in five adolescents already turn to AI chatbots for mental health advice, and separate reporting from mychesco.com found that more than half of teenagers interact with AI companions several times a month, with 13% doing so daily.
Nationally, schools have responded by adopting AI tools built specifically for this gap. At least 200 schools in 19 states have partnered with a company called Alongside to deploy its Kiwi chatbot for students in grades four through 12, EdSource reports, with the platform designed to alert school counselors when a conversation signals a risk of self-harm or suicide. Counselors reportedly receive an alert with the student's chat log within five minutes when the system flags a serious topic such as suicide, according to EdSource's reporting. The Guardian separately confirmed Alongside's tool is used by more than 200 schools around the U.S., with a starting price around $10 per student a year.
Mixed Signals From Other States
Pennsylvania would be entering a regulatory landscape that varies sharply by state. Nevada generally bars psychotherapists from using AI beyond administrative tasks, according to the National Law Review, while Colorado and Maine take a middle path, prohibiting clinicians from letting AI make independent clinical decisions but allowing it to handle certain functions when a clinician reviews and approves the output. The same outlet notes further legislation on AI's role in psychotherapy is expected in 2027.
At least 35 states have published formal guidance on AI use in education, but Pennsylvania has not yet issued its own, according to Pennsylvania Capital-Star. That gap has drawn attention from state lawmakers beyond Miller's bill: members of the House Education Committee traveled to Pittsburgh to gather input from educators and national experts on prospective AI legislation, and committee Chair Pete Schweyer said everybody is generally concerned with ethical use, student privacy and student data. Teachers unions, meanwhile, have pressed lawmakers to ensure any new rules prohibit educators from being replaced by AI altogether.
Mental health experts have widely criticized unregulated chatbots for mental health use, citing risks including emotional dependency, social isolation, suicide and self-harm, per EdSource's reporting. Other districts have experimented with different fixes entirely: Governing reported that Ralph R. McKee Career and Technical Education High School on Staten Island is preparing to open a nearly $500,000 wellness studio using holograms to connect students with remote therapists, while New York City's free Teenspace online therapy service drew thousands of teen sign-ups after its November 2023 launch, according to the same outlet. Whether Pennsylvania follows Miller's more restrictive approach or some version of these alternatives now rests with the Senate Education Committee.
