Gov. JB Pritzker says he intends to sign legislation that would give Illinois a regulatory framework for artificial intelligence developers after a measure sailed through the General Assembly with overwhelming bipartisan support and the backing of AI companies.
The bill, which passed 110-0 in the House on Wednesday and 52-5 in the Senate last week, would make Illinois the first state to require independent, third-party audits of the safety practices of large frontier artificial intelligence developers.
The measure is part of a broader package of bills being pushed by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly to fill what lawmakers view as a void left by federal inaction on AI regulation. The chief Senate sponsor, Democratic state Sen. Mary Edly-Allen of Grayslake, said earlier this month that without guardrails, the industry resembles “the Wild Wild West.”
“Illinois needs to create a road map for responsible innovation to prevent catastrophic risks,” she said.
State Rep. Daniel Didech, a Democrat from Buffalo Grove and the bill’s main House sponsor, said during discussion of the legislation on the House floor that AI is “among the most significant technological developments of modern time.”
“It has the potential to drastically improve the quality of life of people throughout the world but only if deployed and developed responsibly,” Didech said. “This is an important bill to move us towards that world.”
The legislation that cleared the House Wednesday would require large AI developers — those with more than $500 million in annual gross revenue — to publish explanations of how their products could pose a “catastrophic risk” and how those risks would be addressed. The requirements would take effect Jan. 1, 2028.
Companies would also be required to disclose how they identify and respond to “critical safety incidents” and to report such incidents to the state within 72 hours of having sufficient reason to believe one has occurred. Developers would be required to retain a third party each year to conduct an independent compliance audit; auditors would need to demonstrate technical expertise in the safety of frontier AI models.
The legislation also includes whistleblower protections, prohibiting companies from adopting policies that prevent employees from disclosing information to state or federal authorities if they believe the company poses a public safety hazard. Companies would be required to maintain an anonymous internal reporting process for employees who believe in good faith that the company’s activities present a danger to public health or safety.
Pritzker signaled Wednesday evening that he intends to sign the bill. “Illinois is leading the nation in holding Big Tech accountable,” he said in a statement on the social platform X. “As AI systems impact people’s lives, we need safeguards in place.”
But AI companies embraced the legislation, which drew broad support from both sides of the aisle. AI developer Anthropic, which backed the bill, said it “takes the safety practices leading labs already follow voluntarily — publishing a safety framework, transparent reporting, protecting whistleblowers — and helps establish a baseline that every leading AI developer is expected to meet.”
“As these models grow more powerful, this kind of enforceable accountability matters more and more,” Cesar Fernandez, an Anthropic official, said in a statement.
OpenAI also supported the measure, saying it underscores the importance of clear expectations around safety, transparency and accountability as AI systems grow more sophisticated.
“Illinois has an opportunity to help set the national standard, joining states like California and New York in demonstrating the power of reverse federalism — where states lead the way toward establishing a national framework through complementary approaches,” the company said in a statement.
Senate Republican leader John Curran of Downers Grove, a co-sponsor of the bill, called it “a bold first step in regulatory technology policies that will be a work in progress as we continue to craft legislation to help spur research and innovation in this rapidly growing AI industry.”
The legislation comes after Republican President Donald Trump’s administration has shown reluctance to regulate AI, concerned that too much oversight could stifle technological advancement.
Days into Trump’s second term, his administration rescinded a 2023 executive order from then-Democratic President Joe Biden that emphasized the “highest urgency on governing the development and use of AI safely and responsibly,” replacing it with a declaration that “revokes certain existing AI policies and directives that act as barriers to American AI innovation.”
Several other AI-related bills are working their way through the legislature with only days left in the spring session, needing to clear the House before being sent to the governor. One would crack down on AI-driven rental pricing platforms that lawmakers say facilitate rent-fixing, prohibiting landlords from coordinating prices through shared third-party software or algorithms. That bill passed the Senate 34-21 last week.
Another measure, which passed the Senate 57-0, would prohibit the use of bots to purchase event tickets in excess of posted limits and bar resellers from falsely implying affiliation with artists or event organizers. A separate bill — also passed 57-0 in the Senate — would require AI companies to detect signs that a user may be suicidal or at risk of self-harm and refer the person to a crisis service such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Businesses would also be required under separate legislation to notify customers during a phone call that they are interacting with an automated system; that measure passed the Senate 56-1. Another bill awaiting consideration by the House would prohibit companies from selling consumers’ most sensitive data without first giving them the opportunity to opt out; it passed the Senate 54-3.
For schools, one bill would limit the use of student biometric data to legitimate instructional purposes, while another would prohibit teachers from using AI to assign grades on student work. Both passed the Senate without opposition.
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