# Illinois becomes first state to mandate independent third-party AI safety audits

> Illinois has become the first US state to require independent, third-party safety audits of frontier AI models. Governor JB Pritzker signed the Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act, which will make developers of the largest models, those with 500 million dollars or more in revenue, submit to annual outside audits starting in January 2028. The law also sets tight incident-reporting rules. Companies will have 72 hours to report safety issues and just 24 hours when there is an imminent risk of death or serious injury, and they will have to post public summaries of their audits within 30 days to state agencies and the attorney general. While federal AI rules remain vague and, in the White House's case, largely secret, individual states are stepping into the gap. Illinois's move to mandate external checks rather than trusting labs to grade their own homework could become a model that other states copy, and it hints at a patchwork of state-level AI regulation taking shape.

_Section: [Daily AI Updates](https://www.wortins.com/daily-ai) · Source: Skadden · Published Thursday, August 13, 2026_

## Wortins' read

Illinois has become the first US state to require independent, third-party safety audits of frontier AI models. Governor JB Pritzker signed the Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act, which will make developers of the largest models, those with 500 million dollars or more in revenue, submit to annual outside audits starting in January 2028. The law also sets tight incident-reporting rules. Companies will have 72 hours to report safety issues and just 24 hours when there is an imminent risk of death or serious injury, and they will have to post public summaries of their audits within 30 days to state agencies and the attorney general. While federal AI rules remain vague and, in the White House's case, largely secret, individual states are stepping into the gap. Illinois's move to mandate external checks rather than trusting labs to grade their own homework could become a model that other states copy, and it hints at a patchwork of state-level AI regulation taking shape.

## Source

[Read the full story at Skadden](https://www.skadden.com/insights/publications/2026/07/illinois-enacts-ai-safety-law-becoming-first-state)

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