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Illinois just became the first state in the country to require the biggest AI companies to get independent audits of their safety plans.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: The US government has largely stalled on AI regulation amid partisan fights, and the Trump administration has been wary of heavy oversight out of concern it could slow innovation and give China an edge over the United States. With Congress sitting on its hands, multiple states across the US have begun proposing or initiating new laws aimed at regulating AI, which the US government argues states do not have the right to do.

What’s going on now: Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act, or SB 315, at a signing event Monday, saying people “want protections from the risks of AI.” The law targets the largest frontier developers, those pulling in more than $500 million in annual revenue, and requires them to publish a framework laying out how their systems could create a “catastrophic risk,” defined as an incident that could kill or seriously injure more than 50 people or cause more than $1 million in property damage.

Companies also have to report critical safety incidents to the state within 72 hours, or 24 hours if there’s an imminent risk of death or serious injury.

The headline provision is the audit requirement. Illinois is the first state to require yearly outside audits of how AI companies handle safety, done by experts who have no financial stake in the outcome.

The bill also creates whistleblower protections and confidential reporting channels for employees who flag safety concerns, and it carries civil penalties of up to $1 million for a first violation and $3 million for later ones, enforced by the state attorney general.

In a statement, Governor Pritzker said, “As AI systems become more powerful and the federal government is unwilling to step in, states have a responsibility to protect our people from the dangers of AI while still harnessing the unique potential of the technology.”

House sponsor Rep. Daniel Didech argued the risks aren’t hypothetical, pointing to what he called the first AI-inspired mass shooting and an AI system used to attack a municipal water and drainage utility. He also referenced Anthropic’s Mythos model, which the company held back from public release over fears it was too capable as a cyberweapon.

Notably, the bill drew support from the industry it regulates, including OpenAI and Anthropic, the maker of Claude. Anthropic’s Cesar Fernandez called Illinois’s pairing of transparency requirements with independent verification “an important step toward the accountability this technology demands.”

Despite this, not everyone was on board. TechNet, a coalition of tech executives, warned during debate that the state would be forcing private actors to make “highly subjective determinations” on safety compliance without established national standards.