Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) signed a first-in-the-nation bill on Monday to mandate third-party safety audits for large-scale artificial intelligence models run by top developers.
The bipartisan legislation, known as the Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act, requires Anthropic and OpenAI, among other frontier AI firms that earn more than $500 million in revenue, to identify, disclose, and mitigate risks while enabling independent inspections of AI systems that fall under the state’s jurisdiction. Illinois is the first state to require such oversight.
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The Democratic governor framed the new law against the backdrop of Congress‘s inaction on AI safety.
“As AI systems become more powerful and the federal government is unwilling to step in, states have a responsibility to protect our people from the dangers of AI while still harnessing the unique potential of the technology,” Pritzker said in a statement. “People want protections from the risks of AI and Illinois is stepping up with a bipartisan, first- and most-protective-in-the-nation law.”
Illinois lawmakers modeled the measure after 2025 laws in California and New York that also regulate AI safety, but without third-party safety audits.
“SB 315 is the strongest AI safety law in the country,” Encode AI co-Executive Director Sunny Gandhi said. “It builds on the frameworks California and New York have already passed and goes one step further by requiring independent audits, so the public doesn’t have to take AI companies at their word. Illinois has set the new standard.”
Anthropic and OpenAI openly endorsed the Illinois bill before it passed the state legislature in May. Both companies support state-level AI safety laws while the federal government remains deadlocked on the issue.
A bipartisan framework that would eliminate the patchwork of state regulations hasn’t gotten very far in Congress due to competing proposals and debates over federal preemption of state laws.
Meanwhile, the White House has taken the lead on oversight of AI systems. Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order subjecting AI models to a 30-day review that gives the federal government early access to such systems before their public release.
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Regarding the newly enacted Illinois law, an Anthropic official was pleased with the regulatory safeguards it will bring to the AI space.
“SB 315 makes Illinois the first state to pair AI transparency requirements with independent verification, an important step toward the accountability this technology demands,” said Cesar Fernandez, head of U.S. state and local government relations at Anthropic. “Anthropic is proud to have been the first AI lab to support this bill, and we commend Governor Pritzker and the sponsors, Senator Mary Edly-Allen and Representative Daniel Didech, for their leadership on this critical issue.”
