Illinois passes strongest US AI safety bill requiring third-party audits

The Illinois House of Representatives passed SB 315, which mandates that frontier AI labs such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind submit their safety practices to independent third-party audits. If signed by Governor JB Pritzker—who has indicated he will sign—the bill would become the strongest AI safety law in the United States, surpassing existing laws in California and New York. The core innovation is requiring an external auditor to verify that an AI lab is actually following its own stated safety commitments, rather than relying on self-reporting. Scott Wisor of the Secure AI Project notes that currently 'AI companies grade their own homework,' and SB 315 would change that by bringing in firms like Deloitte, EY, KPMG, or PwC, or smaller evaluators from the AI Evaluator Forum.

The bill has drawn a mixed response from the tech industry. OpenAI's chief of global affairs, Chris Lehane, publicly endorsed SB 315, calling it a 'thoughtful framework' for frontier AI safety, while Anthropic claims it was the first lab to support the legislation. However, trade group Chamber of Progress—whose partners include Google, Apple, Amazon, and Andreessen Horowitz—opposed the bill, arguing it would force companies to expose sensitive systems to untested auditors in a liability-heavy regime. The passage of SB 315 reflects a broader trend of state legislatures taking the lead on AI regulation in the absence of federal action, with Illinois serving as a testing ground for potential national laws.