Illinois House passes AI safety bill requiring independent audits of frontier AI labs, now awaiting governor's signature

The Illinois House passed bill SB 315 on Wednesday, requiring frontier AI labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind to have their safety practices audited by a third party. Governor JB Pritzker said on social media he plans to sign the bill.

Unlike California and New York laws that require tech companies to publish safety information and incident reports, SB 315 requires independent auditors to verify that an AI lab adheres to its own safety standards—a requirement that did not exist before. Potential auditors include the Big Four accounting firms (Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC) or members of the AI Evaluator Forum, a coalition of research organizations.

AI safety experts tell WIRED the bill would be the nation's leading check on the power of major AI companies. OpenAI and Anthropic have endorsed the legislation, though the Chamber of Progress trade group opposed it, warning the bill would expose sensitive systems to untested auditors.