IllinoisAI regulation

Regulation Status

• Illinois is one of the most consequential US states on AI regulation, driven by a mix of pioneering privacy law and newer AI-specific statutes rather than a single omnibus act. It was the first state to regulate AI in hiring through the Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act (820 ILCS 42), effective 1 January 2020, which requires employers using AI to analyze applicant video interviews to give notice, explain how the AI works, obtain applicant consent, and, where AI alone screens candidates, report applicant demographic data annually. Illinois is also nationally distinctive for its 2008 Biometric Information Privacy Act (740 ILCS 14, BIPA), whose private right of action and statutory-damages regime have made it the leading US framework governing facial-recognition and other biometric AI systems.
• The headline recent development is Senate Bill 315, the Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act, signed on 6 July 2026 and effective 1 January 2027, which creates obligations for large frontier AI model developers generating more than $500 million in annual revenue from models trained above a defined compute threshold. It requires publication of an AI framework for identifying and assessing catastrophic risk, annual independent third-party safety audits, safety-incident reporting to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security, whistleblower protections, and civil penalties for non-compliance.
• House Bill 3773 amended the Illinois Human Rights Act and took effect on 1 January 2026, making it a civil rights violation for an employer to use AI in recruitment, hiring, promotion, renewal of employment, selection for training or apprenticeship, discharge, discipline, tenure, or other employment terms either without notifying employees or in a manner that discriminates against protected classes, including using zip code as a proxy for a protected class; implementing rules from the Illinois Department of Human Rights are being finalized.
• In 2024 Illinois also enacted two likeness statutes effective 9 August 2024: an amendment to the Right of Publicity Act (HB 4875) barring knowing distribution of sound recordings or audiovisual works containing unauthorized AI-generated digital replicas, with damages remedies, and the Digital Voice and Likeness Protection Act (HB 4762, 815 ILCS 550) making certain contract provisions licensing digital replicas of performers unenforceable where intended uses are not reasonably specific and the individual lacked legal or union representation.
• Illinois has additionally moved to restrict AI in mental-health care. The Wellness and Oversight for Psychological Resources Act (HB 1806, Public Act 104-0054), effective 1 August 2025, prohibits offering therapy or psychotherapy to the public other than through a licensed professional, including via internet-based AI, and permits AI use only for administrative or supplementary support under full professional responsibility, with written notice and consent when sessions are recorded or transcribed; it bars AI from making independent therapeutic decisions, interacting directly with clients, generating unreviewed treatment plans, or detecting emotions or mental states.