Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) signed the Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act (S.B. 315) on July 6, 2026, making Illinois the first U.S. state to require the largest artificial intelligence labs to obtain third-party audits of their safety plans. The legislation mandates that frontier AI labs with over $500 million in revenue submit these audits annually, aiming to ensure oversight by qualified experts without financial conflicts of interest.
The bill aligns with similar laws in California and New York but goes further by imposing the third-party audit requirement. It also obligates large AI developers to create, publish, and update annually an AI framework assessing catastrophic risks, cybersecurity, and other safety concerns.
The Illinois state Legislature passed the bill earlier in the year with bipartisan support. It has received endorsements from prominent AI developers, including OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, and Anthropic, creator of the Claude model.
Governor Pritzker emphasized the state's role in AI oversight, stating, “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.”
Cesar Fernandez, head of U.S. state and local government relations at Anthropic, praised Illinois’s approach, calling the combination of transparency requirements and external verification “an important step toward the accountability this technology demands.”
The move comes amid stalled federal AI legislation, highlighting states’ increasing roles in regulating emerging technologies.
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