Illinois Senate Democrats introduce bills to regulate AI

With just two weeks left in the spring legislative session, Illinois Senate Democrats introduced an eight-bill package aimed at regulating some uses of artificial intelligence after a lack of federal action on the issue.

Lawmakers modeled their bills that address consumer protection, developer transparency and educational usage after legislation in California and New York to create a “de facto national standard,” said Sen. Bill Cunningham, a Chicago Democrat.

Industry advocates have voiced concerns about state-led regulations creating a “patchwork environment” that is difficult to do business in and encouraged lawmakers to wait for federal action. But no such movement has been made in Congress, and President Donald Trump signed an executive order in December discouraging states from “excessive” regulation.

“From our observation, not much is happening at all in Washington, so we felt it was necessary for us to act,” Cunningham said. “We also were motivated by the idea that two other big states have passed pretty meaningful AI regulation, California and New York, and together, we believe that our three states will cover about 40% of the AI market in the United States.”

The senators say they’re aiming to pass their bills before the General Assembly adjourns May 31 — and they’re undaunted by threats from the federal government, potentially including withholding broadband funding.

“We're going to do the right thing regardless of those threats, and that's what we're trying to do with this package,” Cunningham said.

Senate Bill 315 from Sen. Mary Edly-Allen would require large developers — those with annual gross revenues greater than $500 million — to create, follow and publish a framework detailing how the company approaches incorporating industry standards, assesses the model’s capabilities and potential for catastrophic risk, and identifies and responds to safety incidents. It would also require developers to review the framework annually and advertise any significant modifications.

“This is not about stopping innovation, but rather about balancing the great promise of AI with its potential harms,” said Edly-Allen, a Democrat from Libertyville.

A representative from Anthropic, the Claude model developer, testified in support of the bill, which passed unanimously out of committee on Wednesday.

Sen. Laura Ellman is sponsoring Senate Bill 316 to ensure that AI chatbots provide resources to struggling teenagers, amid rising rates of suicide and self-harm linked to chatbot use.

“AI isn't necessarily trained in crisis response, especially as it relates to mental health,” the Naperville Democrat said. “Due to a lack of proper intervention, the teenager can commit self-harm, and in some cases, dies by suicide after confiding with an artificial intelligence chatbot. That is unacceptable.”

The bill would require operators of AI chatbots designed for social or emotional interaction — exempting models like customer service chatbots — to develop and maintain protocols around expressions of suicidal ideation and self-harm, including preventing the model from encouraging such behavior. When the chatbot recognizes such expressions, it would need to direct users to resources like crisis hotlines.

Senate Bill 317 from Sen. Rachel Ventura would require companies using customer service chatbots to disclose to consumers that they are speaking with an automated system.

Both bills passed unanimously out of committee on Wednesday.

Sen. Steve Stadelman, a Democrat from Caledonia, is sponsoring Senate Bill 318 to prevent bots from buying and reselling event tickets.

The bill would prohibit users from using bots, multiple accounts or email addresses from making mass purchases of event tickets. The bill passed unanimously out of committee on Wednesday.

Senate Bill 340 from Sen. Laura Murphy would require tech companies to give consumers the ability to opt out of data collection for personalized ads or for sale to third parties. It would also prohibit the sale of personal data to influence life-changing decisions like loan approvals, job screening or insurance rates.

“Illinois needs to protect our consumers' personal data from being collected by these companies,” the Des Plaines Democrat said.

Senate Bill 415 from Sen. Karina Villa would restrict schools from using facial recognition software on school cameras.

“No child should be subjected to invasive surveillance or have risk of their sensitive personal data collected and misused,” said Villa, a Democrat from West Chicago. ”

Republicans have expressed concern that the bill would limit schools’ ability to keep their students safe, although they ultimately voted to pass it out of committee.

“Public policy is balancing priorities, and I would place a greater priority on the safety of the students in school, school security, over an individual visit,” said Sen. John Curran, a Republican from Downers Grove.

Sen. Robert Martwick, a Chicago Democrat, is sponsoring Senate Bill 416, which would prohibit teachers from using AI to assign grades.