At a time when artificial intelligence is while and , state Rep. Travis Nelson wants to make sure AI can鈥檛 get away with pretending to be a nurse.

Nurses in Oregon and elsewhere have become increasingly anxious since a tech company鈥檚 announcement it had developed a $9-an-hour AI program that could take over work normally done by nurses paid ten times that rate.

Nelson, a nurse and a Portland Democrat, is responding with , a narrowly focused bill that would ban any 鈥渘onhuman鈥� entity, including artificial intelligence, from using the title of 鈥渘urse.鈥�

The bill comes as AI is already remaking health care. High-tech algorithms are being used to increase revenues and lower costs across the industry, such as by triaging patients and assisting with diagnosis, imaging and other care decisions. It鈥檚 making coverage decisions and accelerating hospital 鈥渢hroughput鈥� by directing providers in a manner intended to discharge patients as quickly as possible.

But while supporters cite increased efficiency, critics say AI is being used by companies like UnitedHealth to access to needed care. AI is less accountable and can hurt care quality by replacing provider judgment and 鈥� or replacing them outright, some fear.

Just one page long, the bill is one of the more modest state-led attempts to put safeguards around AI in health care and would be among the first efforts to regulate the technology in Oregon.

Nelson said he鈥檇 like a broader bill to let patients opt out of health care providers using AI to treat them. But he said that probably won鈥檛 happen before the session ends in June, and it鈥檚 important to act fast given how quickly AI is evolving and spreading.

Jake Thomas

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The Lund Report

鈥淏y the time the session ends, we鈥檒l have taken another big leap on the AI front,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 keeping pace with where we are.鈥�

Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, the Oregon-based president of the American Nurses Association, told The Lund Report the bill is needed to protect patients.

鈥淎 lot of this is public safety, right?鈥� Kennedy said. 鈥淭he public needs to know if I call myself a 鈥榥urse鈥� what that entails. Someone off the street can鈥檛 call themselves a nurse because there is an assumption of education and licensure.鈥�

Lawmakers in other states have tackled a number of bills with mixed results. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom the 鈥淧hysicians Make Decisions Act,鈥� which requires physicians to review decisions made by AI technology that deny coverage.

President Donald Trump has moved to the development of AI, overruling Biden administration safeguards.

$9-an-hour nurse sparks worries over AI

In 2021 Thailand-based Botnoi Group began marketing an 鈥淎I nurse鈥� to 鈥減re-assess鈥� patients for diseases. Last year, tech company Hippocratic AI it was developing 鈥渆mpathetic AI healthcare agents鈥� that could relieve staffing shortages by completing 鈥渓ow risk, non-diagnostic, patient facing tasks over the phone.鈥�

compared a nurse鈥檚 $90 an-hour wage to the $9-an-hour cost of using the software. The company did not respond to a request for comment from The Lund Report.

The announcement sparked an outcry from nurses, including , as well as that computers can鈥檛 to do nurses鈥� jobs. The idea of replacing nurses with AI 鈥渢hreatens patient safety, undermines trust in healthcare, and diminishes the human aspects of nursing such as empathy, critical thinking, and decision-making,鈥� Oregon Nurses Association statement.

Kennedy said that many AI companies don鈥檛 understand the work of nurses. She recalled watching a company demonstrate an AI product at a conference by presenting a transcript between a nurse and a patient. The patient, she recalled, was a low-income, diabetic, Hispanic single mother who was caring for her mother, who was going in for surgery.

The AI program produced recommendations for the nurse to give to the patient, she said. Those included encouraging the patient to eat healthier by going to a Chipotle franchise while referring her to expensive home care agencies that do not take insurance. Kennedy called the recommendations racist and unhelpful.

鈥淵ou can augment the care the nurse gives with AI, but you cannot replace it,鈥� she said.

Keep humans involved, expert says

Dr. William Hersh, a professor of medical informatics and clinical epidemiology at Oregon Health and Science University, told The Lund Report that most widely used AI health care technologies keep 鈥渁 human in the loop鈥� that can correct errors.

鈥淭he goal is to streamline,鈥� he said. 鈥淐omputers slow doctors down.鈥�

ChatGPT, a widely used AI chatbot, to diagnose patients. Hersh said that could be useful in lower-resource settings, but a clinician would still need to be involved in diagnosing patients.

Hersh said that the legal questions around AI in health care remain significant

鈥淲hat if an AI system gets it wrong?鈥� he said 鈥淲ho gets sued?鈥�

Bill gets first hearing

During a hearing on the bill Tuesday in the House Behavioral Health and Health Care Committee, state Rep. Cyrus Javadi, R-Tillamook, said that AI products are getting 鈥渞eally, really close鈥� to a 鈥渟oftware nurse.鈥� He asked if these products should carry a label to alert patients, be required to meet standards or if we should 鈥渏ust wait and see.鈥�

Kennedy responded that she partially wanted to 鈥渨ait and see what happens in the marketplace.鈥� But she added that there is the issue of who is accountable for advice given to patients by an AI.

鈥淚 can give you some really good examples of bad AI advice in the last six months from technology companies,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just not there yet.鈥�

Next steps for the bill haven鈥檛 been scheduled.

This story was originally published by The Lund Report, an independent nonprofit health news organization based in Oregon. You can reach Jake Thomas at jake@thelundreport.org or @jakethomas2009 on X.

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