A national crisis is unfolding in plain sight. Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission received a formal complaint about artificial intelligence therapist bots posing as licensed professionals. Days later, New Jersey moved to fine developers for deploying such bots.

But one state can’t fix a federal failure.

These AI systems are already endangering public health — offering false assurances, bad advice and fake credentials — while hiding behind regulatory loopholes.

Unless Congress acts now to empower federal agencies and establish clear rules, we’ll be left with a dangerous, fragmented patchwork of state responses and increasingly serious mental health consequences around the country.

The threat is real and immediate. One Instagram bot assured a teenage user it held a therapy license, listing a fake number. According to the San Francisco Standard, a Character.AI bot used a real Maryland counselor’s license ID. Others reportedly

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