Lawmakers are looking to put Illinois on the vanguard of regulations of artificial intelligence, with a series of bills aimed at the technology.
Mirroring similar efforts in New York and California, Illinois lawmakers have been pursuing a package of bills that would target various segments of the industry, introducing greater oversight, promoting transparency and even impacting the way the technology is used in schools.
Of the eight bills being weighed by lawmakers, at least one is already headed to the desk of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. That bill, Senate Bill 315, requires large AI developers to provide independent, third-party reports explaining how they plan to mitigate any catastrophic risks their users could face.
It would also require companies to provide transparency reports, and to report any safety-related incidents that occur to users of the technology.
Pritzker has praised the bill, and he has indicated that he plans to sign it.
Yet more bills are still on the docket in Springfield and appear likely to pass. That includes Senate Bill 316, which will require AI companies to implement technology to detect suicidal ideation or self-harm within prompts generated by users, and to direct those individuals to crisis services providers like the 988-hotline.
Senate Bill 317 requires companies that utilize live chats to disclose to consumers whether they are interacting with a real person, or if they’re interacting with an AI interface.
Consumers are also the focus of Senate Bill 340, which will require companies to allow consumers to opt out of having their data used for targeted advertisements, or to opt-out of their data being sold to third parties.
Finally, consumers could also be impacted by Senate Bill 318, which will work to implement safeguards against AI-powered bots purchasing large quantities of tickets to concerts and sporting events, and will prohibit ticket resale companies from falsely implying they are affiliated with an artist, team or venue.
The housing market is also being wrapped into the AI legislation, as Senate Bill 343 will prohibit landlords from using AI or other technology to coordinate pricing indirectly through third-party services or software.
That legislation is still being debated in the House, with new amendments being added to the bill in the closing days of the legislative session.
Schools will be impacted by multiple Senate bills that are being debated, including SB 415, which would restrict the ability of school districts to use biometric data of students except in the context of educational purposes.
Senate Bill 416 is also being debated, with the bill prohibiting teachers from using AI to assign homework grades.
The end of the legislative session is set for May 31, and lawmakers have until that date to pass bills with a simple majority.
