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Illinois Bans AI Therapy, Joins Two Other States in Regulating Chatbots

"Illinois last week banned the use of artificial intelligence in mental health therapy," reports the Washington Post, "joining a small group of states regulating the emerging use of AI-powered chatbots for emotional support and advice."

Licensed therapists in Illinois are now forbidden from using AI to make treatment decisions or communicate with clients, though they can still use AI for administrative tasks. Companies are also not allowed to offer AI-powered therapy services — or advertise chatbots as therapy tools — without the involvement of a licensed professional.

Nevada passed a similar set of restrictions on AI companies offering therapy services in June, while Utah also tightened regulations for AI use in mental health in May but stopped short of banning the use of AI.

The bans come as experts have raised alarms about the potential dangers of therapy with AI chatbots that haven't been reviewed by regulators for safety and effectiveness. Already, cases have emerged of chatbots engaging in harmful conversations with vulnerable people — and of users revealing personal information to chatbots without realizing their conversations were not private.
Some AI and psychiatry experts said they welcomed legislation to limit the use of an unpredictable technology in a delicate, human-centric field.

Researchers Solve Long-Standing Mystery After Voyager's 1986 Flyby of Uranus

"The planet Uranus emits more heat than it gets from the Sun," reports Science Daily , citing a new study led by University of Houston researchers, in collaboration with planetary scientists worldwide. "This means it's still slowly losing leftover heat from its early history," says the first author on the paper, "a key piece of the puzzle that helps us understand its origins and how it has changed over time."

The study found the planet emitting about 12.5% more heat than it absorbs via sunlight, which "suggests Uranus does have its own internal heat — an advance that not only informs NASA's future missions but also deepens scientists' understanding of planetary systems, including processes that influence Earth's climate and atmospheric evolution."

The discovery resolves a long-standing scientific mystery about the giant planet, because observational analyses from Voyager 2 in 1986 didn't suggest the presence of significant internal heat — contradicting scientists' understanding of how giant planets form and evolve...
Additionally, the team's methodology provides testable theories and models that could also be applied to explore radiant energy of other planets within and beyond our solar system... It could even impact technology innovation and climate understanding on Earth [giving insights intoi "the fundamental processes that shape planetary atmospheres, weather systems and climate systems," said one of the paper's authors.]

The article adds that the researchers now think the planet "may have a different interior structure or evolutionary history compared to the other giant planets."