Techné AI
When AI makes the decision, someone still answers for it.
In Illinois, since January 1, 2026, that someone answers under a strict-liability standard — and answers again in California, New York, Colorado, and the European Union as operations reach them. Techné AI is an independent advisory practice for the HR, legal, compliance, and risk functions that own AI deployment, and for the boards to whom they answer. The work begins with the problem — where an organization stands today, and where the law and the technology are taking it — and ends in a documented compliance posture: the record regulators, plaintiffs, vendors, and underwriters eventually ask to see.
Khullani M.
Abdullahi, JD
Founder & Principal Advisor
I built Techné AI as an independent practice where AI governance meets fiduciary duty and regulatory exposure. I wrote the AI Governance & D&O Liability briefing that now circulates among directors, officers, their broker partners, and the underwriters who serve them. I testified before the Illinois Senate's Executive Subcommittee on AI and Social Media; one recommendation from that testimony became an AI-risk impact study bill. And I host AI in Chicago, where I talk with the researchers, founders, and policymakers shaping the field.
The regulatory map.
Five regimes are now live for any Illinois-headquartered organization of meaningful size. Select one to read it.
Illinois HB 3773 took effect on January 1, 2026. Its employment provisions impose strict liability — intent is not a defense — and its bar on using ZIP codes as a proxy for protected classes closes a familiar workaround. The Department of Human Rights published proposed implementing rules on May 15, 2026 and withdrew them on June 2, 2026; the rulemaking is postponed, and the statute continues to apply.
Open the Illinois AI Legislative EcosystemThe WOPR Act (HB 1806, Public Act 104-0054) has been in force since August 1, 2025. It limits AI in therapeutic and behavioral-health workflows, requires a licensed professional to oversee AI-assisted clinical decisions, and forbids advertising an AI product as therapy where no licensed professional stands in the loop. Penalties run to $10,000 a violation.
Read about the WOPR Act Review engagementCalifornia reaches further still. Its ADMT regulations under the CCPA and CPRA, together with SB 53, SB 942, and AB 2013, apply to any company with California operations or California consumers. New York City's Local Law 144 has been enforced since 2023. Colorado's AI Act took effect in February 2026.
Read about the Multi-Jurisdictional ReviewThe EU AI Act's high-risk obligations apply on August 2, 2026, with a possible deferral to December 2, 2027 under the Digital Omnibus. The deferral changes the calendar, not the substance: the duties of Articles 9 through 17 — risk management, data governance, technical documentation, human oversight, accuracy and robustness, quality management — stand either way.
Read about the Multi-Jurisdictional ReviewRun against each statute separately, these become five compliance programs. Run together, they become one: a single control catalog that answers the overlapping obligations at once, and a documentation set that reads coherently to the functions that consume it — legal, compliance, privacy, risk — and to the counterparties they answer to. The unified posture is the more defensible one.
Read about the Multi-Jurisdictional ReviewTwo doors.
- 01
TalentSight
For the people who run AI in employment · $999 / $1,999 · self-serve
A members-only practice community for HR, talent, and people leaders managing employment AI compliance under Illinois HB 3773 — the maintained library, the instruments as they ship, a monthly live session, and a room of peers.
- 02
BoardSight Intelligence
For the boards who answer for it · $2,499 / $5,999 · by request
A maintained, private reference library for directors and the officers who support board-level AI oversight — briefings, playbooks, templates, and trackers, every document dated and revised when the landscape moves.
Charter rate lock, both doors: subscribe by September 30, 2026 and renew at your original rate for as long as you stay subscribed.
The published record.
Formal testimony, published briefings, and tools practitioners across Illinois consult.
- 01
HB 3773 Exposure Snapshot
Run the snapshot
A free four-minute instrument for Illinois employers: where AI touches your covered employment decisions, and how developed your documented posture is against the statute. On-screen summary immediately; the full written snapshot delivered by work email.
- 02
Illinois AI Legislative Ecosystem
Open the tracker
A live tracker of every AI-related bill, enacted statute, and regulatory move shaping Illinois AI policy. Maintained by Techné AI; consulted by general counsel, compliance officers, and policy researchers.
- 03
AI Governance & D&O Liability
Request the briefing
A briefing for directors, officers, and the advisors who serve them on where AI deployment meets fiduciary duty and D&O liability. In circulation among practitioners and underwriters.
- 04
Senate testimony
Read the testimony
Written testimony to the Illinois Senate's Executive Subcommittee on AI and Social Media on consolidating the state's frontier-AI safety bills. One recommendation from it became an AI-risk impact study bill.
- 05
AI Hiring Vendor Questionnaire
Access in the community
A twelve-question diligence template aligned to HB 3773 and the IDHR's withdrawn proposed notice framework, built for HR teams vetting every AI tool in the hiring and performance stack. Available to TalentSight Community members.
The practice.
Independent. Anchored in Illinois.
Techné AI is an independent advisory practice. It does not sell software, integrate AI systems, place insurance, or take commissions. It stands apart from the technology vendors, the audit firms, and the law firms — and that separation is what lets its review work be relied on by internal counsel, by compliance and risk, and by the counterparties they answer to.
Everything the firm publishes rests on published methodology: the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, ISO/IEC 42001, the SaferAI Frontier AI Risk Management Framework, and the proportionality and tiered-assurance literature now taking shape in the field. The work delivers a documented compliance posture — dated, sourced, and maintained — in documents and instruments that name their methods and their sources.
Where a client requires formal third-party attestation, Techné AI makes referrals to licensed CPA firms and accredited certification bodies. The firm is itself implementing an ISO/IEC 42001 AI management system, with certification targeted for 2026–2027.
The practice is anchored in Illinois, where its authority was built — the legislative tracker, the Senate testimony, the AI Governance & D&O Liability briefing in circulation — and it follows clients into the jurisdictions their operations require: California, New York, Colorado, and the European Union.
- How Techné AI works
- Full disclosure of independence
- NIST AI RMF
- ISO/IEC 42001
- SaferAI Frontier Framework
- Illinois AI Legislative Ecosystem ↗
Where to start.
Three self-serve paths. The free four-minute HB 3773 Exposure Snapshot gives you a structured read on where your organization stands — no account required. The TalentSight membership is the maintained shelf that closes the gaps it surfaces — a private practice community for HR leaders working through HB 3773 together. And the Techné Brief is the free weekly read for staying current while you decide.