AI Policy Corner: Potential Future Implementation Requirements

Here is the latest set of bills: 

Specific to Health Care Settings  

•  A.B.682 (Ortega): Health Care Coverage Reporting – Requires health insurers to report information about the claims that they deny, including why they were denied, use of prior authorization, and the number of claims that were reviewed by AI or predictive algorithms. This applies to insurance plans that deploy AI to review claims.  

• A.B.489 (Bonta): Health Care Professions: Deceptive Terms or Letters: Artificial Intelligence – Prohibits deployers of AI systems from making any implication or indication that care, or advice being offered through AI technology is being provided by a natural person with a license or certificate to practice as a health care professional.  

• S.B.579 (Padilla): Mental Health and Artificial Intelligence Working Group – Creates a State of California working group to evaluate the role of AI in mental health, including artificial intelligence-driven therapeutic tools, virtual assistants, diagnostics, and predictive models.

Regulation of Deployers and Developers  

• S.B.468 (Becker): High-Risk Artificial Intelligence Systems: Duty to Protect Personal Information – Requires deployers of high-risk AI systems that process personal information to develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive information security program. Health care providers deploying such systems must develop and maintain a compliant plan. 
• S.B. 53 (Wiener): CalCompute: Foundation Models: Whistleblowers – Establishes a framework for ethical AI development through a public cloud initiative. Introduces whistleblower protections for employees reporting critical risks in AI models. Applies to developers of AI.  

A few bills would build up California’s regulatory framework around AI.  

• A.B.1018 (Bauer-Kahan): Automated Decision Systems –Establishes comprehensive regulations for both developers and deployers for automated decision systems (ADS) in California. Before finalizing a consequential decision (relating to areas like health care, employment, education, housing, or criminal justice) made by ADS, deployers must provide the subject with an explanation/information about the ADS used to make the decision. A health care provider could be regulated as a developer and deployer. 
• A.B.1405 (Bauer-Kahan): Artificial Intelligence: Auditors’ Enrollment – Establishes a framework for the enrollment and regulation of AI auditors. This does not directly regulate developers or deployers but has implications for healthcare providers that could be subject to audits. Health care providers or those who already conduct audits could register to be an enrolled auditor.  

Legislative Intent Bills

These bills express the legislature’s intent to pass legislation on a particular topic, but as of today, the language has not yet been released. The impact on health care providers will not be known until the legislative text is published.  

• SB-420 (Padilla): Individual rights – Expresses the legislature’s intent to introduce legislation around a comprehensive set of individuals rights around AI. For example, one individual right is the right to human oversight for significant decisions around health care, housing, employment, and criminal justice. 

• A.B.979 (Irwin): Artificial Intelligence – Expresses the legislature’s intent to enact legislation relating to artificial intelligence.  

• S.B.833 (McNerney): Artificial Intelligence: Critical Infrastructure – Establishes the intent of the legislature to enact legislation that would prohibit artificial intelligence from making or executing a plan on critical infrastructure without human oversight.

Chatbots and Use of AI Tools for Minors 

Chatbots continue to be a major discussion in California. California was one of the first states to adopt a chatbot law. Two bills have already been introduced, one which would update the law that passed last year and one which focuses on the impact on minors. Additionally, a comprehensive regulatory framework bill has been proposed around the use of AI tools for minors. 

• AB 410 (Padilla) Bots: Disclosure – Current law says that it is unlawful for developers or deployers to use a bot to interact online with the intent to mislead the person about its artificial identity. This bill strikes the intent language and adds that the person must disclose that it is a bot if asked or prompted. While this is not a major change from the previous bill, it would require healthcare providers that use chatbots to update their procedures. 

• SB 243 (Padilla) Chatbots: Minors – Requires deployers of chatbot platforms to take reasonable measures to prevent chatbots from encouraging increased usage or engagement from minors. Applies to operators of chatbot platforms which would include health care providers who use AI chatbots.  
• A.B.1064 (Bauer-Kahan): Leading Ethical AI Development (LEAD) for Kids Act – Establishes the LEAD for Kids Standards Board, which will adopt regulations around the use of AI in products designed for children. Applies to developers and deployers. It could impact any health care providers that develop AI tools that are designed for children.