{"id":53988,"date":"2026-05-28T14:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T14:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/53988\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T14:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T14:51:08","slug":"illinois-set-to-ok-regulatory-framework-for-big-ai-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/53988\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois set to OK regulatory framework for big AI companies"},"content":{"rendered":"

SPRINGFIELD \u2014 Gov. JB Pritzker says he intends to sign legislation that would give Illinois a regulatory framework for artificial intelligence<\/a> developers after a measure sailed through the General Assembly with overwhelming bipartisan support and the backing of AI companies.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> 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 \u201cthe Wild Wild West.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIllinois needs to create a road map for responsible innovation to prevent catastrophic risks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"StateState Rep. Daniel Didech listens in the House chamber during the spring legislative session at the State Capitol, May 27, 2026, in Springfield. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

State Rep. Daniel Didech, a Democrat from Buffalo Grove and the bill\u2019s main House sponsor, said during discussion of the legislation on the House floor that AI is \u201camong the most significant technological developments of modern time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has the potential to drastically improve the quality of life of people throughout the world but only if deployed and developed responsibly,\u201d Didech said. \u201cThis is an important bill to move us towards that world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legislation that cleared the House on Wednesday would require large AI developers \u2014 those with more than $500 million in annual gross revenue \u2014 to publish explanations of how their products could pose a \u201ccatastrophic risk\u201d and how those risks would be addressed. The requirements would take effect Jan. 1, 2028.<\/p>\n

Companies would also be required to disclose how they identify and respond to \u201ccritical safety incidents\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s activities present a danger to public health or safety.<\/p>\n

Pritzker signaled Wednesday evening that he intends to sign the bill. \u201cIllinois is leading the nation in holding Big Tech accountable,\u201d he said in a statement<\/a> on the social media platform X. \u201cAs AI systems impact people\u2019s lives, we need safeguards in place.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u201ctakes the safety practices leading labs already follow voluntarily \u2014 publishing a safety framework, transparent reporting, protecting whistleblowers \u2014 and helps establish a baseline that every leading AI developer is expected to meet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs these models grow more powerful, this kind of enforceable accountability matters more and more,\u201d said Cesar Fernandez, an Anthropic official, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

OpenAI also supported the measure, saying it underscores the importance of clear expectations around safety, transparency and accountability as AI systems grow more sophisticated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIllinois has an opportunity to help set the national standard, joining states like California and New York in demonstrating the power of reverse federalism \u2014 where states lead the way toward establishing a national framework through complementary approaches,\u201d the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Senate Republican leader John Curran of Downers Grove, a co-sponsor of the bill, called it \u201ca 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legislation comes after Republican President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has shown reluctance to regulate AI, concerned that too much oversight could stifle technological advancement.<\/p>\n

Days into Trump\u2019s second term, his administration rescinded a 2023 executive order from then-Democratic President Joe Biden that emphasized the \u201chighest urgency on governing the development and use of AI safely and responsibly,\u201d replacing it with a declaration that \u201crevokes certain existing AI policies and directives that act as barriers to American AI innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 also passed 57-0 in the Senate \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

\"AA demonstrator holds a sign referencing corporations that make money through the sale of peoples’ personal data before a rally held by several groups under the umbrella organization Illinois Revenue Alliance at the State Capitol during the spring legislative session, May 27, 2026, in Springfield. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Businesses would also be required under separate legislation to notify customers at the start of 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\u2019 most sensitive data without first giving them the opportunity to opt out; it passed the Senate 54-3.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPRINGFIELD \u2014 Gov. JB Pritzker says he intends to sign legislation that would give Illinois a regulatory framework…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,4788,25,1237,31702,120,31703],"class_list":["post-53988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-ai-regulation","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-audit","tag-gov-jb-pritzker","tag-illinois","tag-third-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}