Illinois sets safety rules for frontier AI developers

Illinois Governor, JB Pritzker, signed the Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act on July 6, 2026, creating new governance and safety obligations for developers of advanced AI models. The Act focuses on “frontier models,” defined as foundation models trained above specified computational thresholds, and places the heaviest requirements on “large frontier developers” with annual gross revenues exceeding $500 million.

The Act takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, while many substantive compliance duties begin in 2028. Large frontier developers must publish a Frontier AI Framework covering standards adoption, catastrophic risk assessment, mitigation measures, deployment review, independent evaluators, cybersecurity protections for unreleased model weights, safety incident procedures, governance, and risks from internal use. Material framework changes must be publicly disclosed within 30 days.

Developers must publish transparency reports before, or at the time of, deploying a new or substantially modified frontier model, including release date, supported languages, output modalities, intended uses, restrictions, and contact information. Starting Jan. 1, 2028, large frontier developers must retain independent third parties for annual compliance audits and publicly post summaries and redacted reports within 30 days after receipt.

Critical safety incidents must be reported within 72 hours, while incidents posing imminent risks of death or serious physical injury require disclosure within 24 hours. The Illinois Attorney General has exclusive enforcement authority, with civil penalties of up to $1 million for a first violation and up to $3 million for each subsequent violation.