Skip to main content
How Can We Help?Contact

Guide · Illinois

Illinois AI law: what applies to your organization, and from when

Illinois has more AI rules in force than most states. The one that reaches the most organizations is about hiring and managing people, and it has applied since January 1, 2026. This guide sets out each law, who it covers and what it asks of you.

Data ProductsLast reviewed October 16, 20268-minute read

This guide describes the law as it stood on the review date. It is not legal advice: for a decision about your own situation, ask counsel.

At a glance

Six Illinois laws bear directly on how organizations build or use AI. Most organizations need the first one; the rest depend on what your AI does.

LawWho it reachesIn forceWhat it asks
Human Rights Act, AI amendment (HB 3773)Employers using AI in employment decisionsJanuary 1, 2026Notice when AI is used; no discriminatory effect; no zip codes as a stand-in for a protected characteristic
Artificial Intelligence Video Interview ActEmployers using AI to analyze recorded interviews for Illinois-based rolesJanuary 1, 2020Notice, an explanation and consent before the interview; limited sharing; deletion on request
Biometric Information Privacy ActAny private entity collecting face geometry, voiceprints or fingerprints2008, amended 2024Written notice and a written release before collection; a published retention schedule
Digital replica laws (HB 4762, HB 4875)Anyone contracting for, making or distributing a replica of a real person’s voice or likenessAugust 9, 2024 and January 1, 2025Specific terms and representation in replica contracts; no unauthorized replicas
Wellness and Oversight for Psychological Resources ActAnyone offering therapy, and licensed professionalsAugust 2025No AI-delivered therapy; written consent for AI that records or transcribes sessions
Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act (SB 315)Developers of the largest modelsJanuary 1, 2027Incident reports and transparency reports; for the largest, a published framework and an annual audit
Illinois AI laws in force or enacted, as of October 16, 2026.

AI in hiring and employment decisions

Since January 1, 2026, the Illinois Human Rights Act makes three uses of AI in employment civil rights violations: using AI in a way that has the effect of discriminating on a protected characteristic, using zip codes as a stand-in for one, and failing to tell people that AI is being used. The change came from HB 3773, Public Act 103-0804.

It covers decisions across the whole of someone’s working life: recruitment, hiring, promotion, renewal of employment, selection for training or apprenticeship, discharge, discipline, tenure, and the terms, privileges or conditions of employment. The law defines AI broadly, as a machine-based system that infers from what it receives how to produce outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations or decisions, and it names generative AI expressly. A screening or ranking feature inside an applicant tracking system is covered, and so is a tool that drafts interview questions or summarizes candidates, if its output feeds a decision.

Effect is what counts. An employer can be liable for a tool it bought, configured by a vendor, that nobody meant to discriminate with. That is why testing outcomes matters more than reading a vendor’s assurances.

The duty to give notice applies now, even though the state has not finished saying what a notice must contain.

On May 15, 2026, the Illinois Department of Human Rights proposed rules for the notice. They asked for six things: the AI product with its developer and vendor; the employment decision it influences; its purpose and the categories of data it uses; the positions it is used for; a contact person; and the right to ask for a reasonable accommodation. The notice would go out through several channels at once: the handbook, workplace postings, the intranet, the careers site and job postings. On June 2, 2026, the Department postponed the rulemaking, with no new date. The statute did not move with it. Until rules are final, the proposed list is the best checklist available.

Complaints go to the Department of Human Rights, as for any other charge under the Act. Remedies can include back pay, reinstatement, actual damages and attorneys’ fees.

AI analysis of video interviews

If you ask applicants for a recorded video interview and use AI to analyze it, for a position based in Illinois, the Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act has applied since January 1, 2020. Before the interview, you must:

  • Tell them. Notify the applicant that AI may be used to analyze the video.
  • Explain it. Say how the AI works and what general types of characteristics it uses to evaluate applicants.
  • Get consent. Without it, the AI may not be used to evaluate that applicant.

Afterwards, share the video only with people whose expertise or technology is needed to evaluate the applicant, and delete it, along with any copies you passed on, within 30 days of the applicant asking. An employer that relies solely on AI analysis to decide who gets an in-person interview must also report each year, by December 31, the race and ethnicity of applicants who were and were not invited, and of those hired, to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Faces, voices and fingerprints

The Biometric Information Privacy Act is older than most AI tools, and it catches many of them. A feature that maps face geometry, matches a voiceprint or reads a fingerprint collects a biometric identifier: identity checks at onboarding, emotion or attention analysis in interviews, voice authentication, voice cloning.

Before collecting one, a private entity must tell the person in writing what it collects, why and for how long, and get a written release. It must also publish a schedule for keeping and destroying the data. People can sue directly, for up to 1,000 dollars for each negligent violation and 5,000 dollars for each intentional or reckless one. A 2024 amendment counts repeated collection by the same method from the same person as one violation, and accepts an electronic signature as the written release.

Digital replicas of voice and likeness

Two 2024 laws deal with AI copies of real people. The Digital Voice and Likeness Protection Act (HB 4762, in force August 9, 2024) makes a contract term unenforceable if it allows a digital replica of someone’s voice or likeness in place of work they would otherwise do in person, does not describe the intended uses with reasonable specificity, and the person had neither a lawyer nor union representation covering replicas.

An amendment to the Right of Publicity Act (HB 4875, in force January 1, 2025) makes it unlawful to knowingly distribute a recording or audiovisual work containing an unauthorized digital replica, and extends liability to anyone who knowingly helps. Marketing teams using synthetic voices or presenters should check both.

AI in therapy and mental health

Since August 2025, the Wellness and Oversight for Psychological Resources Act (HB 1806, Public Act 104-0054) bars AI from providing therapy or psychotherapy in Illinois, making independent therapeutic decisions, or detecting a client’s emotions or mental state. Licensed professionals may still use AI for administrative work, such as scheduling and billing, and for supplementary support, such as records and notes. Recording or transcribing a session with AI requires the client’s written, informed consent. The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation enforces it, with fines of up to 10,000 dollars.

Developers of frontier models

The Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act (SB 315, Public Act 104-0538), signed on July 6, 2026, is written for the companies that build the largest models, not for the ones that use them. It reaches developers of models trained with more than 10²⁶ operations.

  1. The Act takes effect. Developers report critical safety incidents within 72 hours, or within 24 hours where someone faces an imminent risk of death or serious injury, and publish a transparency report with each new or substantially changed model.
  2. Developers with more than 500 million dollars in annual revenue also publish a framework for managing catastrophic risk and commission an independent audit every year.

Penalties reach 1 million dollars for a first violation and 3 million dollars for each one after it. The Attorney General enforces the Act.

If your organization uses AI rather than training frontier models, this Act does not apply to you, though your vendors’ published frameworks and reports will become useful evidence in your own reviews.

Will federal law override any of this?

Not so far. Executive Order 14365, signed on December 11, 2025, set up a Justice Department task force to challenge state AI laws and asked for a federal law that would preempt them. As of mid-September 2026, no suit by that task force had been reported, Congress had passed no preemption law, and no state AI law had been blocked. Plan on Illinois law applying as written.

Organizations working across states have more to track. Colorado repealed and re-enacted its AI Act in May 2026 with narrower duties, now due to apply from January 1, 2027. New York City requires bias audits of automated hiring tools. And if your AI is used on people in the EU, the EU AI Act reaches you too: see our guide to the EU AI Act.

What to do this quarter

For most organizations, the work is in the employment amendment. Six steps cover it.

  1. List every place AI touches an employment decision, including features inside vendor tools: screening, ranking, scheduling, assessments, interview analysis and performance tools.
  2. Give notice now, to applicants and to employees, using the six elements in the proposed rules as the checklist, on the careers site, in job postings and in the handbook.
  3. Remove zip codes and their stand-ins from any model, filter or rule used in these decisions.
  4. Test outcomes by stage, and keep the results. Ask vendors for the testing they have done, and for what you need to run your own.
  5. Name a person accountable for each decision AI feeds, and record who decided.
  6. Check biometric and video features against the Biometric Information Privacy Act and the Video Interview Act before they are switched on.

Questions

Does the employment law apply if the AI is inside a vendor’s product?

Yes. The law turns on whether the employer uses AI in a covered decision, not on who built the tool. Vendor contracts should give you what you need to write the notice and to test outcomes.

Do we need applicants’ consent?

Under the Human Rights Act amendment, you owe notice, not consent. Consent is required under the Video Interview Act, and a written release under the Biometric Information Privacy Act, where those apply.

Is there an official notice template?

Not yet. The Department of Human Rights proposed rules in May 2026 that listed what a notice should contain, then postponed them on June 2, 2026. Until rules are final, those six elements are a sensible checklist.

Are small employers exempt?

Rarely. The Human Rights Act covers employers with at least one employee in Illinois, so size alone seldom takes an employer out of scope.

Does the frontier AI law apply to us?

Only if you develop a model trained with more than 10²⁶ operations. Organizations that use AI tools, however heavily, are not covered.

Sources

Each link opens the statute, the official record or the analysis used for this guide. Dates were checked on October 16, 2026.

Where this leads

Turn the checklist into a decision path you keep

The AI Governance Quickstart takes one real use case, such as a hiring tool, through a review path your legal, risk and HR owners agree on, and leaves the path in place for the next one.

Starter service · 2 to 4 weeks

AI Governance Quickstart

A named review path, a decision log and a policy drafted for approval, built with your risk owners. It ends in a decision on one real use case, and a path you keep for the next one.See the Quickstart

Using AI in hiring or HR in Illinois?

Thirty minutes on where AI touches your employment decisions today, and what your notice would need to say.

Book 30 minutes

AI in your hiring decisions? Thirty minutes on what your notice needs to say.

Book 30 minutes