{"slug": "trump-loses-more-control-over-ai-regulation-as-illinois-passes-landmark-law", "title": "Trump loses more control over AI regulation as Illinois passes landmark law", "summary": "Illinois lawmakers passed the nation's strongest AI safety law on Wednesday, requiring major AI firms to submit public safety plans and third-party testing reports, just days after President Donald Trump canceled a federal AI safety testing plan. Governor J.B. Pritzker confirmed he will sign the bill, which also mandates reporting critical safety incidents within 72 hours and provides whistleblower protections for employees. The law, supported by OpenAI and Anthropic, establishes a state-level regulatory baseline as Trump's administration retreats from federal AI oversight.", "body_md": "A few days after President Donald Trump [abruptly canceled](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/trump-canceled-ai-safety-testing-eo-after-snub-from-tech-ceos/) a plan that [would have given the federal government power to vet frontier AI models](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/everything-that-could-go-wrong-with-trumps-ai-safety-tests-according-to-experts/) over fears that it might hobble innovation, Illinois lawmakers passed the nation’s strongest AI safety law.\n\nOn Wednesday, the Illinois legislature passed [SB 315](https://legiscan.com/IL/bill/SB0315/2025). If Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signs the bill into law, the largest AI firms would be required to submit public safety plans and annual reports summarizing the results of independent, third-party safety testing of their frontier models. They would also have to report any critical safety incidents to the state within 72 hours—or within 24 hours if there’s potentially “an imminent risk of death or serious physical harm.” And their employees will have a clear avenue for reporting emerging safety risks that companies may be tempted to downplay, with protections provided by the state’s whistleblower laws.\n\nOn X, Pritzker confirmed his intent to sign, proclaiming that “Illinois is leading the nation in holding Big Tech accountable.”\n\n“I look forward to signing SB 315 and working with the legislature so that AI, when used, is used responsibly,” Pritzker said.\n\n## Leading AI firms supported safety law\n\nBoth OpenAI and Anthropic, whose models would be vetted by the state, supported SB 315.\n\nOpenAI’s chief of global affairs Chris Lehane [told Wired](https://www.wired.com/story/openai-chris-lehane-global-affairs-pr/) that the AI firm is pushing to pass similar laws in other states in what seems like a move to avoid having to comply with a patchwork of starkly different state laws.\n\nAnthropic’s head of state and local government relations, Cesar Fernandez, [told NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/illinois-legislature-passes-historic-ai-bill-rcna347191) that the law’s requirements mirror safety testing protocols that leading AI firms are already voluntarily doing. However, he described the landmark law as important for establishing a “baseline that every leading AI developer is expected to meet.”", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trump-loses-more-control-over-ai-regulation-as-illinois-passes-landmark-law", "canonical_source": "https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/trump-loses-more-control-over-ai-regulation-as-illinois-passes-landmark-law/", "published_at": "2026-05-28 17:01:16+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-28 17:24:32.194423+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "ai-safety", "artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["Donald Trump", "Illinois", "J.B. Pritzker", "SB 315"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trump-loses-more-control-over-ai-regulation-as-illinois-passes-landmark-law", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trump-loses-more-control-over-ai-regulation-as-illinois-passes-landmark-law.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trump-loses-more-control-over-ai-regulation-as-illinois-passes-landmark-law.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trump-loses-more-control-over-ai-regulation-as-illinois-passes-landmark-law.jsonld"}}