The AI Law Wave Hits American States: Nebraska Regulates AI Chatbots, Maryland Passes AI Pricing Law, Maine Bans AI Therapy Without a License

Three American states passed AI legislation in the week ending April 13. Nebraska now requires AI chatbots to tell minors they are not human. Maryland regulates AI-driven pricing algorithms. Maine bans anyone from offering AI therapy unless they hold a professional license. These join Oregon, Idaho, and Tennessee, which signed AI laws the previous week. The wave is accelerating — over 1,000 AI-related bills were introduced across state legislatures in 2025 alone, according to NASCIO Executive Director Doug Robinson.

The three new laws

Nebraska LB 525 — Conversational AI Safety Act. The bill passed the Nebraska legislature and regulates minors' interactions with conversational AI services. AI chatbots must disclose to minors that they are AI. The disclosure requirement extends beyond children: operators must tell any user that the service is not human "if a reasonable person would not understand the service is not human." The same bill also includes an Agricultural Data Privacy Act, bundling consumer and agricultural AI protections in a single piece of legislation.

Maryland HB 895 — AI pricing regulation. The bill passed the Maryland legislature and regulates the use of AI to set consumer prices. The law targets algorithms that determine what individual consumers pay — relevant to ride-sharing surge pricing, e-commerce personalization, rental market pricing, and any other context where AI adjusts prices based on consumer data rather than uniform market rates.

Maine LD 2082 — AI therapy prohibition. The bill prohibits "any person from providing, advertising or otherwise offering therapy or psychotherapy services, including through the use of AI, to the public unless the services are provided by a licensed professional." This is a direct response to the proliferation of AI therapy chatbots — apps that offer mental health support without clinical oversight. South Carolina is advancing a similar bill through its Senate committee.

What is coming next

At least eight more AI bills advanced through state committees in the same week, according to Troutman Pepper's weekly state AI legislation tracker.

California has three bills moving simultaneously. SB 867 targets AI chatbots embedded in children's toys and passed the Senate Privacy, Digital Technologies, and Consumer Protection Committee. SB 947 addresses automated decision systems in employment and passed the Senate Labor Committee. AB 2027 prohibits certain uses of worker data by AI and passed the Assembly Labor Committee.

Connecticut's SB 5 on chatbot regulation passed the Joint Judiciary Committee. Missouri's HB 1747 would require the secretary of state to develop an official mark for AI-generated content — and allows anyone injured by unmarked AI content to sue. Rhode Island's HB 7538 requires healthcare providers to inform patients when AI is used to memorialize their visits. Minnesota's SF 4689 on employment automated decision systems passed two committees and was referred to a third.

New York introduced S 9700, a companion bill to the existing A 4991, which prohibits landlords from using AI algorithms to determine rent amounts.

How these laws affect consumers who use AI every day

These bills share a structural pattern. None of them regulate AI models or the companies that build them. Every one of them regulates how AI interacts with a specific person in a specific situation.

A child talking to a chatbot in a toy. A patient whose doctor visit was summarized by software. A renter whose monthly payment was calculated by an algorithm. A shopper whose price was adjusted based on browsing history. A therapy patient who does not know their counselor is a machine.

Each law addresses a different version of the same consumer concern: is this AI, and is it acting in my interest?

With over 1,000 bills introduced and states moving at different speeds, the US is building a patchwork of AI consumer protections without a federal framework to unify them. For consumers, this means your rights when interacting with AI depend on which state you live in. Nebraska residents get chatbot disclosure. Maryland residents get pricing algorithm oversight. Maine residents get protection from unlicensed AI therapy. Residents of states without these laws get none of it — yet.

Mubboo's Take

State AI legislation is moving faster than most consumers realize. When Nebraska requires chatbots to identify themselves to children, when Maryland regulates AI pricing, when Maine bans unlicensed AI therapy — these are direct responses to AI products that consumers already use. For platforms like Mubboo, these laws reinforce a principle we have built around since launch: consumers have the right to know when AI is involved in their experience, whose interests it serves, and what the human alternative looks like. Every page on Mubboo tells you what data comes from a retailer API, what comes from editorial judgment, and where each affiliate link takes you. In a growing number of states, that kind of transparency is not just good practice. It is the law.