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A practice of Techné AI

TalentSight

Independent AI compliance advisory for HR, talent, and people leaders.

TalentSight is the practice at Techné AI for the leaders who own AI in hiring, performance, and workforce decisions. Illinois HB 3773 made employment AI a strict-liability issue effective January 1, 2026 — intent is not a defense, and the prohibition on the use of zip codes as proxies for protected classes closes a common workaround. EPLI underwriters are starting to ask about AI in hiring at renewal. The Illinois Department of Human Rights can accept complaints today. TalentSight gives CHROs the documented compliance posture they need in front of regulators, plaintiffs, vendors, and insurers.

The thesis

The employment AI conversation has shifted from "should we use it" to "what does the file show."

For CHROs and people leaders running organizations that deploy AI in hiring, screening, performance management, or discipline, the questions are concrete:

  • What is the inventory of AI tools touching employment decisions, and which vendors built them?
  • What does each vendor's model actually do with zip code, name, and other proxy variables?
  • What notices have been deployed, and to whom?
  • What documentation exists to respond to an IDHR charge or a plaintiff's discovery request?
  • What is the answer when an EPLI underwriter asks about AI at renewal?

Most organizations have partial answers. TalentSight produces the complete record — vendor inventory, strict-liability risk assessment, notice templates aligned to IDHR rulemaking, vendor due diligence framework, and a compliance posture memo that a CHRO can hand to the GC, the board, or the EPLI broker.

Who this is for

  • Chief Human Resources Officers
  • VPs of HR, Heads of People, Heads of People Operations
  • Heads of Talent Acquisition
  • HR compliance leads and employment counsel
  • EPLI brokers supporting employer clients
  • PE operating partners with portfolio-wide HR exposure

Profile of the engagement-driving CHRO: a CHRO whose team uses one or more AI-powered tools in hiring or performance — Workday, Eightfold, HireVue, Phenom, Paradox, Visier, or others — and who needs to know, with documentation, whether those tools comply with the new Illinois rules and what the answers are when the EPLI broker, the GC, or the board asks.

What's at stake

Five pressure points on the file.

Strict liability

HB 3773 amended the Illinois Human Rights Act to create strict liability for AI-driven employment discrimination. Intent is not a defense. The employer is liable for the conduct of the AI system the employer chose to deploy.

The zip code proxy ban

The statute prohibits the use of zip codes (and other variables) as proxies for protected characteristics. Many widely deployed HR tech tools historically used such variables. Vendor due diligence is now an HR function, not only an IT function.

IDHR enforcement

The Illinois Department of Human Rights can take complaints today. Implementing rules are finalizing. Notice requirements, audit obligations, and vendor accountability provisions are operative.

EPLI renewals

Employment practices liability carriers are beginning to ask AI governance questions on renewal applications. Employers with documented compliance posture obtain materially better outcomes in those conversations.

Private right of action

Aggrieved individuals can file charges with IDHR and pursue private actions under the IHRA. The record an employer produces in response is built before the charge is filed, not after.

How we work

Four engagements, reframed for HR.

Where to start

Two paths.

Read the Operating Playbook.

The pillar reference for HR leaders — vendor evaluation by HR-system type (ATS, video interview, scheduling, performance management, productivity monitoring), notice drafting, exec talking points, and a 90-day compliance calendar.

Schedule a scoping conversation.

A 30-minute call with the principal for CHROs and Heads of People who already know they need a structured HB 3773 review.