I never imagined I’d be writing about artificial intelligence or my mental health. But here I am, speaking up because a new law in Illinois could take away something that helped me when I needed it the most.
Last October, my mom passed away after a hard fight with cancer. She was my rock. Losing her was one of the most painful things I’ve ever experienced. I tried to get help. I went to in-person therapy and joined support groups. Everyone was kind, but I still struggled. The truth is you never know when grief will hit you and it’s often in those “in between” moments – at 2 a.m., while making dinner. It felt like I was drowning in grief, and there was no one to talk to between sessions and when the world was asleep.
That’s when I found an AI-powered tool that offered mental health support. It may not be for everyone but it gave me something I was missing – a way to talk through things when I needed it most. It helped me calm down at 2 a.m. It gave me space to reflect and think clearly. Most importantly, it made me feel like I wasn’t completely alone.
Now, a bill called HB 1806 is sitting on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk. The idea behind it is to protect people from unsafe AI chatbots. It is easy to understand why lawmakers want to protect us from irresponsible tools that could cause harm, especially to people who are in a dark place.
But this law, as it’s written right now, gets it backwards.
It would block responsible, well-designed AI tools that are guided by mental health professionals and encourage users to seek higher levels of care when needed. At the same time, it would allow general-purpose chatbots – the kind that aren’t built for mental health – to stay online with no rules at all. These are the ones that can give out harmful advice or overlook serious warning signs, and they don’t have any clinical safety measures in place.
The result? The law would ban the safer options and leave the risky ones untouched.
That doesn’t make sense. I’m just one of about 1,500 Illinois residents who have used Ash developed by Slingshot AI, the tool I found. For many of us, it’s not about replacing therapy, it’s about finally having something when other options are out of reach. Some people can’t afford therapy. Others must wait months for an appointment. Some, like me, just needed a little extra support to get through the worst moments.
llinois is already in a mental health crisis. We need more safe ways to support people, not fewer. Lawmakers can fix this. They can revise HB 1806 to make sure it targets the truly dangerous tools and allows room for safe, clinician-guided support systems to exist.
Please, let’s make room for solutions that work. We shouldn’t be forced to choose between silence or something risky just because a well-meaning law went too far. Don’t take away a lifeline just because it doesn’t look like traditional therapy.
Sometimes, the path to healing starts with something small, something available in the moments in between support sessions when the pain is often most heavy. Let’s not close that door.
Please put Illinoisans first.
