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AI Laws in Chicago, Illinois
As of 2026-06-17, AI Laws USA tracks 35 AI rules that apply to people and businesses in Chicago, Illinois: 10+ federal protections, 17 Illinois state-level rules, and 8 local Chicago ordinances. Coverage is strongest on automated decision-making, AI disclosure and transparency, consumer data privacy, and biometric data. 19 of these rules are already in effect. Each entry below links to its official source.
Chicago local AI rules (and Cook County)
8 local AI rules specific to Chicago, Illinois or Cook County.
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
Chicago City AI Ordinance (stalled)
Chicago, IL · Chicago, Ill., Ordinance O2024-0008864 (pending in committee)
A pending Chicago ordinance would set citywide guidelines for how city government adopts AI tools in areas like traffic analysis, public safety, and waste management, create a pilot program, and require semi-annual public reports on the city's AI use. It has sat in committee since April 2024 without a vote.
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In effect Limited protection
Chicago Public Schools AI Guidebook
Chicago, IL · Effective 2024-08-01 · Chicago Public Schools AI Guidebook — Guidance for Generative AI Use (2024-08-01)
Quarterly-updated CPS guidance permits district-approved tools with teacher permission; bars PII/PHI/confidential data entry. Warns against AI-detection software due to false-positive risk for English learners.
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
Chicago AI Employment Decisions Ordinance
Chicago, IL · Chicago, Ill., O2024-0008864 (proposed)
A proposed Chicago ordinance that would require employers to notify job applicants when AI is used to make employment decisions, give applicants the option to opt out of AI screening, and prohibit using AI to discriminate against protected classes.
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In effect Limited protection
Chicago GenAI Task Force Resolution
Chicago, IL · Effective 2024-04-17 · Chicago, Ill., R2024-0009 (Apr. 17, 2024)
Chicago City Council resolution establishing a task force to study how city agencies use generative AI and recommend guardrails on procurement, transparency, and bias.
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
Chicago FR Restriction (proposed)
Chicago, IL · Chi. City Council Ord. No. O2024-0008867 (proposed)
Proposed Chicago City Council ordinance that would prohibit Chicago Police Department use of facial recognition technology except under narrow exigent-circumstances exceptions with judicial oversight.
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
Chicago Data Center Study (resolution)
Chicago, IL · Chi. City Council Res. No. R2024-0010 (proposed)
Resolution directing the City of Chicago to study the energy, water, noise, and tax-revenue impacts of large hyperscale data centers before any new zoning approvals are granted.
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In effect Moderate protection
Chicago GenAI Acceptable Use Policy
Chicago, IL · Effective 2024-06-01 · City of Chicago, Generative AI Acceptable Use Policy (2024)
City of Chicago administrative policy governing how city employees may use generative AI tools, including ChatGPT and Copilot, in their official work, with required disclosures and prohibitions on entering sensitive data.
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In effect Limited protection
Chicago ALPR Public Way Rules
Chicago, IL · Effective 2023-09-01 · Chi. Mun. Code §10-8-505 (2023)
Chicago Municipal Code provisions restricting the placement and operation of Automated License Plate Reader cameras on the public way, including permit requirements and limits on third-party data sharing.
Illinois-level AI rules most relevant to Chicago
17 Illinois state rules apply to residents and businesses in Chicago. Showing the 8 most relevant to Chicago's local picture; 9 more are on the Illinois jurisdiction page.
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
AI Safety Measures Act (frontier model audits)
Illinois · Effective 2027-01-01 · IL SB315 (104th General Assembly, 2025-2026)
Would make Illinois the first state to require independent third-party safety audits of the largest "frontier" AI developers (companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google). Covered developers would have to publish and annually update a frontier AI safety framework addressing catastrophic risks, file transparency reports before deploying new or substantially modified models, report critical safety incidents, and provide whistleblower protections for employees who raise safety concerns. Enforced by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security with the Attorney General; civil penalties, no private right of action.
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In effect Moderate protection
IL AI Video Interview Act (2019, first-in-nation)
IL · Effective 2020-01-01 · 820 ILCS 42/1 et seq. (P.A. 101-0260, 2019; P.A. 102-0407, 2021)
Signed by Governor Pritzker on August 9, 2019, the Illinois AI Video Interview Act was the first U.S. state law specifically regulating AI in hiring. It requires employer notice, applicant consent, and explanation of how AI works before using AI to analyze a video interview. 2022 amendment (P.A. 102-0407) added demographic data collection. Still in effect 2026 at 820 ILCS 42/1 et seq.
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In effect Limited protection
AI Video Interview Act
Illinois · Effective 2020-01-01 · 820 ILCS 42/1 et seq.
Employers using AI to analyze video interviews of Illinois job applicants must tell applicants beforehand, explain how the AI works, get consent, limit video sharing, and delete videos on request within 30 days. Employers relying solely on AI screening must report applicant demographic data to the state.
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In effect Stronger protection
HB 3773 (AI Employment Discrimination)
Illinois · Effective 2026-01-01 · P.A. 103-0804, amending 775 ILCS 5
Illinois employers may not use AI in ways that discriminate against protected classes in recruitment, hiring, promotion, discipline, discharge, or other employment terms, and may not use zip codes as a proxy for protected characteristics. Employers must notify workers and applicants when AI is used in employment decisions.
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In effect Limited protection
IL Bar AI Standing Committee
IL · Effective 2024-06-21 · Ill. Sup. Ct. Policy on AI (eff. Jan. 1, 2025)
Illinois Supreme Court adopted an Illinois Supreme Court Policy on AI requiring lawyers and judges to disclose AI use in legal filings and complete mandatory CLE on AI competence. Illinois became the first state to require all judges and lawyers to disclose AI use.
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In effect Stronger protection
BIPA
Illinois · Effective 2008-10-03 · 740 ILCS 14/1 et seq.
The strongest US biometric privacy law: companies must get written consent before collecting fingerprints, face scans, voiceprints, or other biometrics, publish retention/destruction policies, and cannot sell biometric data. Individuals can sue directly and recover $1,000–$5,000 per violation, which has produced major settlements against facial recognition and AI companies.
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In effect Stronger protection
ACLU v. Clearview AI
IL · Effective 2022-05-09 · ACLU v. Clearview AI, Inc., No. 2020-CH-04353 (Cir. Ct. Cook Cty., Ill.)
Clearview AI, which scraped billions of online photos to build a face-search engine sold to police, agreed to a nationwide consent order in May 2022. Clearview is permanently barred from selling its faceprint database to most private U.S. businesses, with additional Illinois-specific restrictions on government contracts.
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In effect Stronger protection
IL BIPA (2008, first-in-nation biometric law)
IL · Effective 2008-10-03 · 740 ILCS 14/1 et seq. (P.A. 95-994, 2008; amended P.A. 103-0769, 2024)
Signed October 3, 2008, the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) was the first state biometric privacy law in the United States — and remains the most powerful. Its private right of action and statutory damages ($1,000 negligent / $5,000 intentional per violation) have driven over $1.5B in class-action settlements, including the $650M Facebook face-tagging settlement (2021) and the $725M TikTok settlement (2021). 2024 amendment (P.A. 103-0769) limited claims to one accrual per person per collection method. Still in effect 2026.
Federal AI rules that apply in Chicago, Illinois
These federal protections apply everywhere in the United States, including Chicago, Illinois. Showing the 10 strongest and most recent.
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In effect Stronger protection
Bartz v. Anthropic
N.D. Cal. · Effective 2025-09-05 · Bartz v. Anthropic PBC, No. 3:24-cv-05417 (N.D. Cal.)
Authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson sued Anthropic over its use of pirated-book datasets to train Claude. In June 2025 Judge William Alsup issued a split ruling: training on lawfully purchased books was fair use, but ingesting pirated copies from LibGen was not. In September 2025 Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion class settlement — the largest AI copyright recovery to date.
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In effect Stronger protection
Banner v. Tesla (Autopilot)
S.D. Fla. · Effective 2025-08-01 · Banner v. Tesla, Inc., No. 1:21-cv-21940 (S.D. Fla. Aug. 1, 2025)
A Florida federal jury found Tesla 33% liable in August 2025 for the 2019 death of Naibel Benavides Leon, in a crash involving Autopilot. The verdict awarded $243M (later reduced to ~$220M) — the first Autopilot wrongful-death verdict against Tesla.
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In effect Stronger protection
COPPA + 2025 Rule (childrens data)
United States · Effective 2025-06-23 · 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501–6506; 16 C.F.R. Part 312
COPPA requires online services aimed at children under 13 to get verifiable parental consent before collecting kids' personal data. The 2025 rule update — fully in effect since April 22, 2026 — adds biometric identifiers (like face templates and voiceprints, which matter for AI tools), requires separate parental consent before sharing children's data for targeted advertising, and tightens data retention limits.
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In effect Stronger protection
TAKE IT DOWN Act
United States · Effective 2025-05-19 · Pub. L. No. 119-12 (S. 146)
Makes it a federal crime to knowingly publish intimate images of someone without consent, including AI-generated deepfakes. Social media and similar platforms must give victims a way to request removal and must take the content (and known copies) down within 48 hours. The platform removal requirement became enforceable May 19, 2026, and the FTC has already begun enforcement.
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In effect Stronger protection
Thaler v. Perlmutter (Copyright)
D.C. Cir. · Effective 2025-03-18 · Thaler v. Perlmutter, 130 F.4th 1039 (D.C. Cir. 2025)
The companion copyright case: Stephen Thaler sought to register a copyright with 'Creativity Machine' (his AI) as the author. The D.C. Circuit affirmed in March 2025 that the Copyright Act's human-authorship requirement is constitutional and dispositive. AI cannot be a copyright author under U.S. law.
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In effect Stronger protection
Thomson Reuters v. Ross
D. Del. · Effective 2025-02-11 · Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH v. Ross Intelligence, Inc., 694 F. Supp. 3d 467 (D. Del. 2025)
Thomson Reuters sued legal-research startup Ross Intelligence in 2020 for copying Westlaw headnotes to train a competing AI legal-research tool. In February 2025, Judge Stephanos Bibas (sitting by designation) granted summary judgment to Thomson Reuters on direct copyright infringement and rejected Ross's fair-use defense — the first definitive U.S. ruling on AI-training fair use. The 2023 jury trial verdict had been deadlocked; the 2025 ruling resolved liability.
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In effect Stronger protection
Louis v. SafeRent
D. Mass. · Effective 2024-11-20 · Louis v. SafeRent Solutions, LLC, No. 1:22-cv-10800 (D. Mass.)
SafeRent agreed in November 2024 to a $2.275M settlement and a five-year ban on using its 'SafeRent Score' for housing-voucher applicants, after a class action alleged its AI tenant-screening tool systematically denied housing to Black and Hispanic Section 8 voucher holders. The first major AI tenant-screening Fair Housing Act settlement.
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In effect Stronger protection
NetChoice v. Yost (Ohio)
S.D. Ohio · Effective 2024-04-30 · NetChoice, LLC v. Yost, No. 2:24-cv-00047 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 30, 2024)
Ohio's Social Media Parental Notification Act — requiring parental consent for minors' social-media use, including algorithmic feeds — was permanently enjoined as unconstitutional in April 2024.
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In effect Stronger protection
FTC Impersonation Rule (AI)
United States · Effective 2024-04-01 · 16 C.F.R. Part 461; 89 Fed. Reg. 15017
The FTC's Impersonation Rule lets the agency directly sue scammers who pretend to be a government agency or a real business — including those who use AI-cloned voices or generated images to do so. Civil penalties can reach $53,088 per violation. The FTC also issued a supplemental notice in February 2024 proposing to extend the rule to all individual impersonation.
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In effect Stronger protection
TCPA (AI voice calls)
United States · Effective 2024-02-08 · 47 U.S.C. § 227; FCC 24-17
Robocalls using AI-cloned or AI-generated voices are treated like other 'artificial voice' calls: callers need your prior express consent, must identify themselves, and must offer opt-outs for telemarketing. You can personally sue violators for $500 to $1,500 per illegal call.
Frequently asked questions about AI laws in Chicago, Illinois
Are there AI laws in Chicago, Illinois?
What federal AI rules apply in Chicago?
Does Illinois have an AI privacy law?
Are deepfakes illegal in Illinois?
Can my employer use AI to screen me for jobs in Chicago?
How do I report an AI law violation in Chicago?
Are facial recognition cameras allowed in Chicago?
Is Chicago regulated by Illinois's consumer privacy act?
Have we missed an AI rule in Chicago?
This page is generated from our open civic dataset. If you know of a Chicago ordinance, county rule, or local enforcement action we should add, email [email protected] or submit a correction. Every entry must include a verifiable source.