Illinois

Illinois isn’t doing so great closing its digital divide, and perhaps that’s why people in the state are picking up Starlink broadband at a faster pace than other states. According to new research from Ookla, based on Ookla’s Speedtest data, rural broadband access expanded across the U.S. in the first half of 2026, with nearly every state narrowing the gap between broadband performance in cities compared to broadband performance in rural areas. When compared to the second half of 2025, every state—with the exceptions of California, Delaware, and Illinois—made progress.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved its last Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program Final Proposal, completing approval of all 56 state and territorial BEAD Final Proposals—a major achievement in ensuring broadband availability across the country. The BEAD Program was established to ensure universal broadband availability across the United States and to serve as the final federal broadband deployment program.

Governor JB Pritzker (D-IL) signed the Children’s Social Media Safety Act (HB5511), a sweeping set of protections designed to keep Illinois kids safe online. The bill establishes comprehensive safeguards for children against the most addictive social media platform features and strengthens protections for minors.

Governor JB Pritzker signed SB 315, the Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act, a landmark legislation establishing the nation's strongest framework for AI safety, transparency, and accountability. The bipartisan law positions Illinois as the national leader by requiring the largest AI developers to identify, disclose, and mitigate risks while providing independent oversight and protections for workers who report safety concerns.

Conexon Connect submitted compliance reports for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund locations in Mississippi, Florida, Missouri, Louisiana, Kentucky, Colorado, Arizona, Tennessee, and Illinois. Conexon Connect delayed its RDOF buildout in some states until state broadband offices finalized Broadband, Equity, Access & Deployment (BEAD) Program funding decisions. This delay, the company believes, was prudent because Conexon Connect’s network would require modification to account for any new BEAD-funded areas.

The Illinois Office of Broadband (IOB) announced its new Illinois Broadband Permit Map, a leading resource on infrastructure deployment in Illinois. This map shares data on various permitting entities and other features that are helpful in determining where and which permits are necessary for broadband construction.

The Lake Michigan docks that once received iron ore for a 20th-century steel mill will accept a new delivery this summer aimed at fueling Chicago’s future: components of a quantum computer. The site of the former U.S. Steel mill, on a lakeside plot on the city’s South Side, is now a construction zone for a quantum-technology campus that local leaders hope will vault Chicago into the next high-tech era and accelerate Illinois’s economic growth.

Illinoisans now will have access to a large collection of high-quality digital information and educational resources for free by going to their local library or the Illinois State Library’s website. The Illinois Reliable Information Sources, or IRIS, program was announced by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. The state entered a contract with EBSCO Information Services—a digital library resource program used by universities, schools and libraries—to provide access to more than 50 of their databases to all Illinois residents.

The Illinois House of Representatives passed a landmark bill Wednesday that would set a new standard for regulating America’s leading AI companies if Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) signs it. The bill, SB 315, mirrors existing provisions in legislation in California and New York requiring frontier AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic to create, publish, and annually update plans to address severe or catastrophic risks from their AI models. It would also mandate annual independent third-party audits of such AI companies on safety issues, which would be a first for any AI legislation in the U.S.

Governor JB Pritzker (D-IL) urged U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to promptly approve Illinois’ Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Final Proposal, which would deliver $1.04 billion in federal funding to expand broadband access to more than 383,000 Illinois residents, the vast majority living in rural communities.