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AI Laws in Evanston, IL, Illinois
As of 2026-07-26, AI Laws USA tracks 30 AI rules that apply to people and businesses in Evanston, IL, Illinois: 10+ federal protections, 19 Illinois state-level rules, and 1 local Evanston, IL ordinance. Coverage is strongest on consumer data privacy, automated decision-making, AI disclosure and transparency, and consumer protection. 18 of these rules are already in effect. Each entry below links to its official source.
Evanston, IL local AI rules
1 local AI rule specific to Evanston, IL, Illinois.
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In effect Limited protection
Evanston deactivates 19 ALPR cameras and terminates Flock Sa
Evanston, IL · Effective 2025-08-26 · Evanston deactivates 19 ALPR cameras and terminates Flock Safety contract
Evanston deactivated all 19 of its Flock cameras and issued a termination notice effective September 26, 2025 after a state audit found Flock illegally shared Illinois data with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Illinois-level AI rules most relevant to Evanston, IL
19 Illinois state rules apply to residents and businesses in Evanston, IL. Showing the 8 most relevant to Evanston, IL's local picture; 11 more are on the Illinois jurisdiction page.
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In effect Limited protection
Policy on the Acceptable and Responsible Use of Artificial I
Illinois · Effective 2025-04-01 · Policy on the Acceptable and Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence
The Illinois DoIT policy governs how state agencies under the Governor's jurisdiction may develop, deploy, and use AI systems, requiring each utilizing agency to designate an AI point of contact and inventory deployed AI systems within 30 days.
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In effect Limited protection
Attorney General Raoul Urges Tech Companies to Stop the Spre
Illinois · Effective 2025-08-26 · Attorney General Raoul Urges Tech Companies to Stop the Spread of Deepfake Nonconsensual Intimate Imagery
The Illinois Attorney General joined a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general pressing search engines and payment platforms to curb AI-generated deepfake nonconsensual intimate imagery, referencing Illinois's AI-generated CSAM and NCII law.
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Enacted (not yet in effect) Moderate protection
AI Safety Measures Act (frontier model audits)
Illinois · Effective 2027-01-01 · IL SB315 (104th General Assembly, 2025-2026)
Illinois is the first state to require independent third-party safety audits of the largest 'frontier' AI developers (companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind). Covered developers — those with >$500M annual gross revenue whose models meet defined compute thresholds — must publish and annually update a frontier AI safety framework addressing catastrophic risks (defined as incidents threatening 50+ deaths, serious injuries, or $1B+ in damages), file transparency reports before deploying new or substantially modified models, report critical safety incidents within 72 hours (24 hours for imminent harm), and protect whistleblowers. Enforced by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security with the Attorney General; civil penalties; no private right of action. Law takes effect January 1, 2027; audit requirements operative January 1, 2028.
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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 2025-01-01 · Ill. Sup. Ct. Policy on AI (eff. Jan. 1, 2025)
Illinois Supreme Court adopted a Policy on Artificial Intelligence (effective January 1, 2025) authorizing AI use by attorneys, judges, and court staff provided it complies with legal and ethical standards. The policy explicitly states that disclosure of AI use should not be required in a pleading, and does not impose mandatory CLE requirements; instead it supports ongoing education on AI and holds all users accountable for thoroughly reviewing AI-generated content before submission.
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In effect Moderate protection
IL Drone Surveillance Act
Illinois · Effective 2014-01-01 · 725 ILCS 167
Illinois requires police to obtain a search warrant before using a drone to gather information, subject to narrow exceptions (terrorism, search-and-rescue, crime-scene reconstruction). The 2023 Drones as First Responders amendments (HB 3902) added regulated exceptions for crowd surveillance and emergency response.
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In effect Limited 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 Evanston, IL, Illinois
These federal protections apply everywhere in the United States, including Evanston, IL, 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 ruled that training on lawfully purchased books was fair use. The piracy claims (LibGen ingestion) were not adjudicated to a final ruling — they proceeded toward settlement. In September 2025 Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion class settlement, though Judge Alsup denied preliminary approval without prejudice pending additional information on the claims protocol and attorney fees.
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In effect Stronger protection
Benavides v. Tesla (Autopilot)
S.D. Fla. · Effective 2025-08-01 · Benavides 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 jury awarded $243M ($129M compensatory + $200M punitive); in February 2026 the court denied Tesla's post-trial motions and upheld the verdict in full — 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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Blocked / in litigation Stronger protection
NetChoice v. Yost (Ohio)
S.D. Ohio · Effective 2025-04-16 · NetChoice, LLC v. Yost, No. 2:24-cv-00047 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 16, 2025)
Ohio's Social Media Parental Notification Act — requiring parental consent for minors' social-media use, including algorithmic feeds — was preliminarily enjoined on February 12, 2024, then permanently enjoined on April 16, 2025 when the district court granted summary judgment for NetChoice. The state appealed to the Sixth Circuit, which vacated the district court's injunction in 2026.
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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 dispositive as a matter of statutory law. 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., No. 1:20-cv-00613 (D. Del. Feb. 11, 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. No jury trial occurred: a 2023 opinion had denied summary judgment and pointed toward trial, but the court invited renewed briefing and reversed course in the 2025 ruling.
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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
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 Evanston, IL, Illinois
Are there AI laws in Evanston, IL, Illinois?
What federal AI rules apply in Evanston, IL?
Does Illinois have an AI privacy law?
Are deepfakes illegal in Illinois?
Can my employer use AI to screen me for jobs in Evanston, IL?
How do I report an AI law violation in Evanston, IL?
Are facial recognition cameras allowed in Evanston, IL?
Is Evanston, IL regulated by Illinois's consumer privacy act?
Compliance guides for Illinois businesses
Plain-English guides to the Illinois AI & data laws companies most often need to comply with:
Have we missed an AI rule in Evanston, IL?
This page is generated from our open civic dataset. If you know of a Evanston, IL ordinance, county rule, or local enforcement action we should add, email [email protected] or submit a correction. Every entry must include a verifiable source.