Source: McDonald Hopkins (insights/news)

On July 6, 2026, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed SB 315, the “Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act,” which will take effect on January 1, 2027. The law applies to “large frontier developers,” defined as AI companies with annual gross revenues exceeding $500 million that train models using computing power greater than 10^26 operations. Covered developers are required to create, implement, publish, and update annually a “frontier AI framework” that includes catastrophic-risk assessment and mitigations, cybersecurity internal governance, third-party evaluations, and management of risks from internal use of frontier models. They must also issue pre-deployment transparency reports including summaries of catastrophic-risk assessments for new or significantly modified frontier AI models.

The law mandates that covered developers report critical safety incidents within 72 hours to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the Attorney General, with a shorter 24-hour timeframe for incidents posing imminent risk of death or serious physical injury. The Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the Office of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Attorney General, will administer the reporting mechanisms, provide guidance, and prepare annual reports. SB 315 establishes civil penalties for violations but does not provide a private right of action. Additionally, large frontier developers are required to file disclosure statements and pay fees. An interoperability provision states that compliance with designated federal requirements, if enacted, will be deemed compliance with SB 315.