Before AI watches the interview, Illinois says ask first.

In 2020, Illinois became the first state in the country to regulate AI in hiring — narrowly, precisely, and years ahead of everyone else. The Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act (820 ILCS 42) governs one specific thing: using AI to analyze a candidate’s video interview. It’s still in force, and — importantly — it is separate from the broader HB 3773 that arrived later.

The four duties

Before you use AI to analyze applicants’ video interviews for an Illinois position, you must do four things. Notify each applicant that AI may be used to analyze the interview. Explain how the AI works and what general types of characteristics it uses to evaluate them. Obtain consent — and you may not evaluate an applicant who declines. And you may share the video only with people whose expertise or technology is necessary to evaluate the applicant.

Deletion and demographics

Two more obligations sit on top. On an applicant’s request, you must delete their video within 30 days — and instruct everyone who received a copy to do the same, including backups. And if you rely solely on AI analysis to decide who advances to an in-person interview, you must collect and annually report the race and ethnicity of applicants to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which analyzes the data for evidence of racial bias.

Why it still matters — and why it’s not HB 3773

It would be easy to assume the newer, broader law swallowed the older one. It didn’t. HB 3773 (in force January 1, 2026) folds AI into the Illinois Human Rights Act — a disparate-impact and notice regime across the whole employment lifecycle. AIVIA is the narrow, consent-based rule for one modality: AI-analyzed video interviews. A single video-interview vendor can trigger both at once — consent and deletion under AIVIA, anti-discrimination and notice under HB 3773. They stack; they don’t substitute.

The practical trap

Most employers don’t know whether their interview platform runs AI analysis under the hood — scoring tone, word choice, or facial cues. AIVIA’s consent and explanation duties assume you know exactly where AI enters the funnel and what it evaluates. You can’t explain a system to an applicant that you haven’t mapped, and you can’t collect consent for a step you didn’t know was automated. The work starts with asking your vendor a direct question and documenting the answer.

Illinois proved, five years early, that you don’t need a sweeping AI Act to regulate hiring AI — you need a consent rule with teeth. It’s still live, it stacks with the newer civil-rights law, and it starts with a question most employers have never actually asked their vendor.

This briefing is general information from Sentinel Assurance Group, not legal advice. Regulatory dates and requirements change — we maintain these briefings, but verify against primary sources and counsel before acting. Last reviewed July 22, 2026.

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