Transparency, Safety Are Focuses for Illinois AI Laws

(TNS) — Illinois has several laws on the books regulating artificial intelligence and its use in certain fields, including a major provision going into effect next year.“The technology is changing so quickly. It’s hard for the laws to keep up, in some ways,” Teri Ross, executive director of Illinois Legal Aid Online, told the News-Democrat in a recent interview.“It does require them to have plans in place and go through an independent audit of their systems,” Ross said.

It requires the companies to publish transparency reports with specific information, including assessments of “catastrophic risks” from the frontier model.The act describes “catastrophic risk” as “a foreseeable and material risk” that a frontier developer’s development, storage, use or deployment of a frontier model will “materially contribute” to the death or serious injury of more than 50 people or more than $1 million in property damage from a single incident involving the model doing specific things.Additionally, the legislation requires AI developers to report “critical safety incidents” within 72 hours or within 24 hours if the incident poses an imminent risk of death or serious injury.

The legislation gives the Illinois Attorney General the authority to issue civil penalties to AI companies for violations, with potential fines reaching up to $1 million for a first offense and up to $3 million for a subsequent offense, depending on the violation’s severity.But how else does Illinois regulate artificial intelligence? Here’s an overview of a few more laws on the state’s books. This list is not exhaustive of all AI-related legislation in the state. Mental health care provisionsIt also stipulates that a licensed professional can’t use AI to make independent clinical decisions, and requires informed consent by the patient or the patient’s legally authorized representative for the professional to use AI in the allowable contexts. GUIDELINES ON AI USE IN SCHOOLSISBE released the guidance in July, and did not create any statewide mandate for AI use in schools. It aims to “help districts make informed decisions” about artificial intelligence use.“This guidance makes clear that AI is a tool to support teaching and learning, not a replacement for the relationships that ground teaching and learning,” State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders said in a July 9 ISBE press release. “Our responsibility is to help schools navigate new technologies in a way that strengthens instruction, protects students, and builds trust for informed AI use between districts and the families and communities they serve.”An update to the Illinois Human Rights Act went into effect Jan. 1 , prohibiting employers from using artificial intelligence “that has the effect of subjecting employees to discrimination on the basis of protected classes” or to use zip codes as proxy for protected classes related to recruitment, hiring, promotion, conditions of employment, firing and more.Using zip codes as proxy for protected classes is considered “proxy discrimination,” law firm Pacific Legal Foundation reports, as zip codes can be used to select for socioeconomic status or race.The act also requires employers to provide notice to employees when using artificial intelligence for these purposes.While this updated law went into effect Jan. 1, the Illinois Department of Human Rights announced June 2 it was temporarily postponing the rulemaking process, according to law firm Seyfarth. The News-Democrat has contacted staff with IDHR to ask for clarification about the law’s current status.Do you have a question about Illinois state law for the News-Democrat? We’d like to hear from you. Fill out our Metro-east Matters form below.©2026 the Belleville News-Democrat, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.