Illinois AI law: what applies to you.

At a glance

AI in employment decisions: the Human Rights Act

Public Act 103-0804 (HB 3773) was signed on 9 August 2024 and took effect on 1 January 2026. It amends the Illinois Human Rights Act, so it applies to employers as that Act defines them, which generally includes any person employing one or more employees in Illinois during 20 or more calendar weeks within the calendar year of or preceding the alleged violation, along with the State and local public employers.

It adds a new subdivision (L) to Section 2-102. Two things become civil rights violations:

• Discriminatory effect. With respect to recruitment, hiring, promotion, renewal of employment, selection for training or apprenticeship, discharge, discipline, tenure, or the terms, privileges or conditions of employment, using AI that has the effect of subjecting employees to discrimination on the basis of protected classes under the Act, or using zip codes as a proxy for protected classes.
• No notice. Failing to provide notice to an employee that the employer is using AI for those purposes.

Two features matter for planning. First, the test is effect, not intent: an employer can be liable for a tool that discriminates even if no one meant it to. Second, the notice duty is separate: using AI in these decisions without notice is a violation in its own right.

The Act defines "artificial intelligence" broadly, as a machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers from the input it receives how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. The definition expressly includes generative AI. Screening tools, ranking and matching features in recruiting platforms, and generative AI used to draft performance assessments can all come within it.

The IDHR notice rules: where they stand

The amendment directs the Illinois Department of Human Rights to adopt rules on when notice is required, the time period for giving it and the means of giving it. Those rules are not in place.

• IDHR circulated an informal draft in late 2025.
• It published proposed rules in the Illinois Register on 15 May 2026, with a public hearing scheduled for 10 June 2026.
• On 2 June 2026 IDHR postponed the hearing and temporarily withdrew the proposal, citing the need for continued collaboration with other state agencies, and said it would provide updated information on next steps.
• As of 13 October 2026 we found no replacement proposal or adopted rule, and IDHR's legislative updates page listed no open comment period.

The statute itself has applied since 1 January 2026 regardless. Without final rules, the content, timing and delivery of notice are matters to settle with counsel.

The Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act

The Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act (820 ILCS 42) has applied since 1 January 2020. It covers employers that ask applicants to record video interviews and use AI analysis of those videos, when considering applicants for positions based in Illinois. Before asking for the video, the employer must:

1. Notify each applicant that AI may be used to analyze the interview and consider the applicant's fitness for the position.
2. Explain how the AI works and what general types of characteristics it uses to evaluate applicants.
3. Obtain the applicant's consent to be evaluated by the AI as described. An employer may not use AI to evaluate applicants who have not consented.

The Act also limits sharing of applicant videos to persons whose expertise or technology is needed to evaluate the applicant, and requires the employer, on the applicant's request, to delete the videos within 30 days and instruct anyone who received copies to delete them too, including backups.

Since 1 January 2022, an employer that relies solely on AI analysis of a video interview to decide who gets an in-person interview must collect the race and ethnicity of applicants who are and are not offered one, and of applicants who are hired, and report that data to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity each year by 31 December.

BIPA, where AI meets biometrics

The Biometric Information Privacy Act (740 ILCS 14) is not an AI law, but it governs much of what AI systems do with faces and voices. Its biometric identifiers include retina or iris scans, fingerprints, voiceprints and scans of hand or face geometry. AI tools that analyze facial geometry in interviews, identify speakers by voice, or verify identity at a time clock can bring BIPA into play.

Under Section 15, a private entity must, among other things:

• Publish a written retention and destruction policy, and destroy biometric data when the initial purpose has been satisfied or within three years of the individual's last interaction, whichever comes first.
• Before collecting, inform the person in writing that biometric data is being collected, and of the specific purpose and length of term, and receive a written release.
• Not sell, lease, trade or otherwise profit from biometric data, and not disclose it except in defined circumstances, such as with consent.
• Protect it with the reasonable standard of care in its industry, and at least as well as other confidential information.

BIPA gives aggrieved persons a private right of action, with liquidated damages of $1,000 per negligent violation and $5,000 per intentional or reckless violation, or actual damages if greater. Public Act 103-0769, effective 2 August 2024, provides that repeated collection or disclosure of the same person's biometric data by the same method counts as a single violation for that person, and confirms that an electronic signature can serve as a written release.

AI in therapy: the Wellness and Oversight for Psychological Resources Act

Public Act 104-0054 (HB 1806) took effect on 1 August 2025. It matters to providers of mental health services and to any organization that offers, builds or buys AI tools presented as therapy. It provides that:

• No individual, corporation or entity may provide, advertise or offer therapy or psychotherapy services to the public in Illinois, including through internet-based AI, unless the services are conducted by a licensed professional.
• Licensed professionals may use AI only for administrative support, such as scheduling and billing, and supplementary support, such as preparing records, while keeping full responsibility for it.
• AI may not make independent therapeutic decisions, interact directly with clients in therapeutic communication, generate treatment plans or recommendations without the professional's review and approval, or detect emotions or mental states.
• Where a session is recorded or transcribed and AI is used for supplementary support, the client must be told in writing that AI will be used and for what purpose, and must consent.

Religious counseling, peer support and publicly available self-help materials are excluded. IDFPR enforces the Act, with civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation. The Act borrows its definition of AI from the Human Rights Act.

Frontier developers: the AI Safety Measures Act

The Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act (Public Act 104-0538, SB 315) was signed on 6 July 2026 and takes effect on 1 January 2027. It is aimed at developers of frontier models, defined by training compute above 10²⁶ operations, with the heaviest duties on large frontier developers with annual revenues above $500 million. Those duties include publishing a frontier AI framework, transparency reports before deploying new or substantially modified frontier models, annual independent third-party audits, reporting of critical safety incidents, and whistleblower protections. The Act states that it creates no private right of action.

Most organizations that use AI rather than train frontier models are not its direct subject. It is relevant to anyone whose vendors are.

What employers should do now

1. Find the AI in your people decisions. List every tool used in recruiting, hiring, promotion, discipline, scheduling, performance and termination, including AI features inside HR and recruiting platforms you already license.
2. Give notice now. The Human Rights Act notice duty has applied since 1 January 2026, final rules or not. Decide with counsel what notice says, when it is given and how.
3. Test for discriminatory effect. Because the standard is effect, ask vendors what testing they have done and what data you would need to check outcomes yourself. Remove zip code and similar proxies.
4. Check every video interview workflow against the Video Interview Act's notice, explanation, consent, sharing and deletion rules, and the reporting duty if AI alone decides who moves forward.
5. Map biometric data. Anywhere AI touches faces, voices or fingerprints, confirm the BIPA policy, written notice and release are in place before collection.
6. Review wellbeing and mental health tools offered to staff or customers against the therapy Act.
7. Name owners and keep a record. Someone accountable for each tool, a review before it is used in a people decision, and a record of what was decided and why.
8. Train the people who use these tools, so recruiters and managers know what the tool does, where it can be wrong and when a person must decide.

If you also operate in the EU, AI used in employment can be high-risk under the EU AI Act. See our guide to the EU AI Act.

Where we fit, and where we do not

Data Products is headquartered in Chicago. We do not give legal advice, and no consultancy can make an organization compliant. We help organizations understand what these laws cover, build an inventory of the AI they use, and govern it: named owners, a review path proportionate to the risk, and a decision record. We also build role-based AI literacy programs for the people who use these tools, with evidence of what was done. Whether that meets a particular obligation is for you and your counsel to decide.

The AI Governance Quickstart puts a working review path in place on one real use case. For the wider picture, see Strategy & Governance and AI & Data Literacy.

Sources

• Public Act 103-0804 (HB 3773), Illinois General Assembly
• HB 3773 bill status, Illinois General Assembly
• Legislative updates, Illinois Department of Human Rights
• Illinois postpones proposed regulations on AI in employment, Ogletree Deakins, 4 June 2026
• Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act, 820 ILCS 42, Illinois General Assembly
• Biometric Information Privacy Act, 740 ILCS 14, Illinois General Assembly
• Public Act 103-0769 (SB 2979), Illinois General Assembly
• Public Act 104-0054 (HB 1806), Illinois General Assembly
• IDFPR announcement on HB 1806
• Public Act 104-0538 (SB 315), Illinois General Assembly
• SB 315 bill status, Illinois General Assembly

Last checked 13 October 2026. This guide is general information and is not legal advice.