Responsible use of artificial intelligence in surveying practice

A guide to the RICS Professional Standard, for surveying firms

Who it applies to and when

• It is a professional, global standard for RICS-regulated firms and members, first edition September 2025, effective 9 March 2026.
• It mixes things you must do with things you should do, and RICS and the courts can take it into account in disciplinary and legal matters.
• If your firm uses AI in its work, it applies to you now.

The first question: is your AI use material?

The Standard turns on materiality. An AI use is material where its output is capable of influencing how you deliver a service.

• Material uses carry the full set of obligations.
• Non-material uses (routine admin, for example) still get recorded, with your reasoning.

The Standard asks you to make and record that judgement, not to guess.

All staff must have adequate training in how AI is used in each process, so they understand what it does, the risks it poses and their role in applying judgement to any output.

30+ requirements across 10 areas

The Standard runs across baseline knowledge (section 2), practice management (section 3) and using AI day to day (section 4), with an extra section for firms that build their own AI (section 5).

We break it down into 10 areas and summarise what each asks of your firm.

Area	Clause	What it asks of your firm
Baseline knowledge	s.2	Everyone using AI understands how it works, its limits and the risks of error, bias and data exposure.
Data governance	s.3.1	Data used with AI is stored securely and access-controlled; annual privacy training; no confidential data into public tools without consent and a risk check.
System governance	s.3.2	An appropriateness assessment, a register of your material AI systems and a Responsible AI Use Policy setting roles, human oversight and training.
Risk management	s.3.3	An AI risk register covering bias, erroneous output, limited information about the system and use of inputted data - reviewed at least quarterly.
Procurement and due diligence	s.4.1	Written due diligence on seven areas before buying a material AI tool; gaps recorded as risks.
Outputs and reliance	s.4.2	A written reliability decision on every material AI output, signed by a named, qualified surveyor who accepts responsibility; dip-sampling for automated output.
Terms of engagement	s.4.3	AI use disclosed in writing, before use, covering six points including PI cover, how to contest, redress and opt-out.
Explainability	s.4.4	A written explanation of how AI was used, available to a client on request.
Materiality and conflicts	s.1.2	A recorded judgement on whether each AI use is material; conflicts with local law recorded and reported to RICS.
Development (if you build AI)	s.5	Extra records on data, permissions, sustainability and testing - only if your firm develops its own AI.

RICS holds copyright in the Standard. This guide maps its structure and meaning; it does not reproduce the text.

What this means in practice

Read as a list it looks like a lot. Read as a system it is straightforward.

A handful of policies that set your position and a set of living records that prove you are following them. Firms have to make conscious, strategic decisions about how AI is used in the business - and those decisions can become a real asset and a catalyst for adoption.

The records are the part the Standard cares about most. An insurer, a client or RICS can ask to see them, and “we are careful” is not an answer.

The single most useful thing a firm can put in place is one living record that holds it all: your AI systems, your risks, your reliability decisions, your supplier checks, your training and your client disclosures, in one place and kept current.

Existing risk and control frameworks are a good place to start - your corporate risk register already has categories and much of the key information to capture.

Where we can help

• Get the map. Use our free checklist, What Your Firm Must Have In Place, to see exactly what good looks like.
• Set up your record. Our ready-to-use AI Governance Register is built for the RICS AI Standard. It is the one living record above, with the checklist built in and a readiness dashboard for a one-off price of £149. Less than the cost of building it yourself.
• Advise on strategy and where AI can help. We work with firms to find where AI adds the most value, the options available and the plan to get there - turning RICS compliance into business opportunity. Contact us to discuss the right advisory options for you.