EveryAILaw.comDoes Maine Act to Regulate the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Providing Certain Mental Health Services (LD 2082) require Human Oversight?
Maine • enforcing
Yes — 2 provisions
Requirements at a glance
This regulation imposes 13 specific requirements for Human Oversight across 2 provisions:
- Licensed human must deliver the service — A person may not provide, advertise, or otherwise offer therapy or psychotherapy services to the public, including through the use of Internet-based artificial intelligence, unless the services are provided by a licensed professional (§ 1500-EE(2))
- Enumerated licence classes only — "Licensed professional" means an individual holding a valid Maine licence or certificate to practise psychotherapy or behavioral health therapy, including licensees under 32 M.R.S. ch. 56, ch. 83, ch. 119, ch. 81 (where authorized to provide therapy or psychotherapy services), and ch. 31, plus physicians and physician associates under ch. 36 or 48 who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders (§ 1500-EE(1)(B))
- Statutory AI definition — "Artificial intelligence" is the OECD-style formulation: a machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers from its input how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments (§ 1500-EE(1)(A))
- Research use is the only exception — The section does not apply to an AI-based intervention used solely within an IRB-approved research project as defined in 22 M.R.S. § 1711-C(6)(G), conducted in compliance with all applicable federal protections for human subjects (§ 1500-EE(4))
- Closed list of permitted uses — A licensee may use AI only to provide administrative support or supplementary support in delivering therapy or psychotherapy services, acting within the scope of the licence, in accordance with the chapter's requirements and restrictions, and in accordance with standards of practice (§ 2113(2))
- Full licensee responsibility — The licensee must maintain full responsibility for all interactions, outputs, and data use associated with the use of artificial intelligence (§ 2113(2)(A))
- Supplementary use gated on subsection 3 — For AI assisting in supplementary support, the licensee must satisfy the recording, written-disclosure, and consent requirements of § 2113(3) (§§ 2113(2)(B), 2113(4))
- No independent therapeutic decisions — A licensee may not allow AI to make independent therapeutic decisions (§ 2113(4)(A))
- No direct therapeutic interaction — A licensee may not allow AI to directly interact with clients in any form of therapeutic communication (§ 2113(4)(B))
- No unreviewed recommendations or plans — A licensee may not allow AI to generate therapeutic recommendations or treatment plans without review and approval by the licensee (§ 2113(4)(C))
- Confidentiality extends to the tool — The licensee must comply with all state and federal confidentiality and privacy laws and must ensure that any AI technology used is itself compliant with those laws (§ 2113(6))
- Professional-responsibility rules follow the tool — All laws and rules on professional responsibility, unprofessional conduct, and generally accepted standards of practice that apply to a licensee apply equally when the licensee uses AI under this section (§ 2113(7))
- Board rulemaking — The board shall adopt rules implementing the section; those rules are major substantive rules under 5 M.R.S. ch. 375, subch. 2-A, requiring legislative review before final adoption (§ 2113(10))
Licensed Professional Delivery of Therapy or Psychotherapy Services #
Maine put this rule in Title 10 (commerce and trade), not in a licensing chapter, which is what gives it reach beyond Maine licensees: § 1500-EE(2) binds any "person" who offers therapy to the Maine public through Internet-based AI, and § 1500-EE(3) converts a violation into an Unfair Trade Practices Act violation enforced by the Attorney General. The statute never calls itself an AI law in its operative duty — it is drafted as a licensure and trade-practices rule — yet the therapeutic-communication definition at § 1500-EE(1)(C)(3), "offering emotional support, reassurance or empathy in response to psychological or emotional distress", describes ordinary consumer companion-chatbot behavior, not only purpose-built therapy products. Advertising and offering are covered alongside providing, so marketing an AI mental-health product into Maine is itself the violation. The IRB carve-out mirrors Rhode Island's and Vermont's, which is now the settled shape of this exemption across the three states.
Requirements
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Licensed human must deliver the service | A person may not provide, advertise, or otherwise offer therapy or psychotherapy services to the public, including through the use of Internet-based artificial intelligence, unless the services are provided by a licensed professional (§ 1500-EE(2)) |
| Enumerated licence classes only | "Licensed professional" means an individual holding a valid Maine licence or certificate to practise psychotherapy or behavioral health therapy, including licensees under 32 M.R.S. ch. 56, ch. 83, ch. 119, ch. 81 (where authorized to provide therapy or psychotherapy services), and ch. 31, plus physicians and physician associates under ch. 36 or 48 who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders (§ 1500-EE(1)(B)) |
| Statutory AI definition | "Artificial intelligence" is the OECD-style formulation: a machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers from its input how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments (§ 1500-EE(1)(A)) |
| Research use is the only exception | The section does not apply to an AI-based intervention used solely within an IRB-approved research project as defined in 22 M.R.S. § 1711-C(6)(G), conducted in compliance with all applicable federal protections for human subjects (§ 1500-EE(4)) |
Penalties
| Violation | Fine |
|---|---|
| Unfair Trade Practices Act violation | A violation of § 1500-EE(2) is a violation of the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act (§ 1500-EE(3)) — Attorney General enforcement under 5 M.R.S. ch. 10. The act itself sets no dollar amounts |
Permitted Administrative and Supplementary AI Use by Licensees #
The allocation of liability is unqualified: § 2113(2)(A) makes the licensee responsible for "all interactions, outputs and data use" associated with the AI, with no carve-out for vendor-controlled design or algorithms — the opposite of Rhode Island's § 40.1-5.5-3(c)(2), which expressly excludes vendor-controlled system design from provider responsibility. A Maine licensee therefore cannot contract that residue away, which is what pushes the duty onto vendor selection and configuration. The prohibitions at § 2113(4) fix the human-in-the-loop boundary — no independent therapeutic decisions, no direct therapeutic interaction with clients, and no recommendation or treatment plan that has not been reviewed and approved by the licensee. P.L. 2026 ch. 687 replicates § 2113 verbatim across six further licensing chapters (32 M.R.S. §§ 2600-G, 3300-J, 3820-A, 6207-D, 7009, and 13870), so the same duty attaches to every board that licenses a mental-health profession in Maine; the rules implementing it are major substantive rules under 5 M.R.S. ch. 375, subch. 2-A, meaning they must go back to the Legislature for review before final adoption.
Requirements
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Closed list of permitted uses | A licensee may use AI only to provide administrative support or supplementary support in delivering therapy or psychotherapy services, acting within the scope of the licence, in accordance with the chapter's requirements and restrictions, and in accordance with standards of practice (§ 2113(2)) |
| Full licensee responsibility | The licensee must maintain full responsibility for all interactions, outputs, and data use associated with the use of artificial intelligence (§ 2113(2)(A)) |
| Supplementary use gated on subsection 3 | For AI assisting in supplementary support, the licensee must satisfy the recording, written-disclosure, and consent requirements of § 2113(3) (§§ 2113(2)(B), 2113(4)) |
| No independent therapeutic decisions | A licensee may not allow AI to make independent therapeutic decisions (§ 2113(4)(A)) |
| No direct therapeutic interaction | A licensee may not allow AI to directly interact with clients in any form of therapeutic communication (§ 2113(4)(B)) |
| No unreviewed recommendations or plans | A licensee may not allow AI to generate therapeutic recommendations or treatment plans without review and approval by the licensee (§ 2113(4)(C)) |
| Confidentiality extends to the tool | The licensee must comply with all state and federal confidentiality and privacy laws and must ensure that any AI technology used is itself compliant with those laws (§ 2113(6)) |
| Professional-responsibility rules follow the tool | All laws and rules on professional responsibility, unprofessional conduct, and generally accepted standards of practice that apply to a licensee apply equally when the licensee uses AI under this section (§ 2113(7)) |
| Board rulemaking | The board shall adopt rules implementing the section; those rules are major substantive rules under 5 M.R.S. ch. 375, subch. 2-A, requiring legislative review before final adoption (§ 2113(10)) |
Penalties
| Violation | Fine |
|---|---|
| Board discipline | A violation of § 2113 is subject to disciplinary action by the board pursuant to 10 M.R.S. § 8003(5) (§ 2113(8)) — the standard Maine licensing-board sanction range, up to licence suspension or revocation. The act sets no dollar amounts |
| Civil actions preserved | Nothing in the section prohibits a client or the client's authorized representative from maintaining an action for harm attributable to the AI use, an action alleging professional negligence of the licensee, or seeking any other remedies available under other provisions of law (§ 2113(12)) |