Illinois Clears Landmark AI Safety Bill

May 29, 2026 – A landmark artificial intelligence safety bill cleared the Illinois legislature Wednesday, setting a potential new national standard for regulating the country's most powerful AI companies.

The bill, SB 315, passed the House 110-0 and the Senate 52-5. It would require frontier AI companies, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, to create, publish, and annually update plans addressing severe or catastrophic risks from their models.

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It would also mandate annual independent third-party audits on safety issues, a first for any AI legislation in the United States.

The measure now heads to Gov. JB Pritzker , who indicated he would sign it. If signed, SB 315 would take effect Jan. 1.

Rep. Daniel Didech , a Democrat who sponsored the bill in the House, said the legislation targets what he called the most significant technological innovation in human history.

“This piece of legislation is designed to put up some guardrails and make sure we have some safeguards in place to protect against some of the worst catastrophic risks,” Didech said.

The bill also creates whistleblower protections and reporting processes for employees at AI companies.

OpenAI and Anthropic publicly supported the bill. A trade organization representing other AI companies opposed it. Google, xAI, and Meta did not respond to requests for comment.

Didech pushed Congress to act, saying states should not bear this responsibility alone. “The best way to regulate these types of catastrophic risks would be a federal approach. The reality is that Congress has not taken up this issue yet, and the technology is developing at such a rapid pace that states have had no choice but to step in,” he said.

The bill's passage puts Illinois at odds with the White House, which has strongly opposed similar provisions, arguing state regulation could hamstring the American AI industry and saddle companies with a patchwork of state rules.

The vote came days after President Donald Trump declined to sign a planned executive order that would have established a voluntary safety testing framework for leading AI companies.