AI Regulations Beginning

Illinois

The state has enacted one of the first laws in the country addressing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the employment process. However, it will not take effect until January 1, 2026. Employees and candidates will have to be notified of the use of AI, not only in recruiting but also in the production of simulated “human-produced content,” such as query responses, etc. The law will further ban the use of AI against protected classes, screening by ZIP codes, and other such potentially discriminatory screening methods. Rest assured that other states will follow suit over time.

In a separate action, the state also reduced the scope of liability of their “Biometric Privacy Act” (which governs private information obtained in biometric scans) to a single liability regardless of the number of scans. Previously, liability was cumulative. Electronic signatures are now admissible as well.

California

California passed an AI “safety bill” that is labeled by employers as “controversial.” According to Clark Hill, “The bill would require developers of artificial intelligence models that cost more than $100 million to develop, or those that require a defined amount of computing power to train (and those providing that computing power) to implement appropriate safeguards and policies to prevent defined critical harms, including the capability to completely shut down the model.” Naturally, it also sets up a state agency to govern the process, calls for the “creation of a consortium to develop a framework for a public cloud computing cluster,” and gives the state Attorney General the authority to sue non-compliant developers.