Why You Should Care About Illinois’ Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act

Illinois is the first state to impose restrictions on the use of Artificial Intelligence by employers conducting video interviews.  The new Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act (ACT) is the first of what I think will be many state and federal regulations targeted at AI.  The law that went into effect on January 1, 2020 provides:

§ 5. Disclosure of the use of artificial intelligence analysis. An employer that asks applicants to record video interviews and uses an artificial intelligence analysis of the applicant-submitted videos shall do all of the following when considering applicants for positions based in Illinois before asking applicants to submit video interviews:

(1) Notify each applicant before the interview that artificial intelligence may be used to analyze the applicant’s video interview and consider the applicant’s fitness for the position.

(2) Provide each applicant with information before the interview explaining how the artificial intelligence works and what general types of characteristics it uses to evaluate applicants.

(3) Obtain, before the interview, consent from the applicant to be evaluated by the artificial intelligence program as described in the information provided.

An employer may not use artificial intelligence to evaluate applicants who have not consented to the use of artificial intelligence analysis.

In summary the law requires employers to disclose, explain and obtain consent from applicants before using AI tools to analyze video interviews.  This notice and choice model is prevalent in U.S. privacy regulation and is at the foundation of laws like HIPPA and GLBA.  This law also demonstrates that AI adoption has significant regulatory compliance risks that need to be carefully evaluated before adopting AI solutions within a business.