Plain English
It became mandatory for RICS members and regulated firms in March 2026. It's the kind of thing that's easy to know about and harder to be sure you've actually complied with. Here's the short version, with no selling attached.
RICS published its first professional standard on the responsible use of artificial intelligence in surveying practice, and it moved from guidance to mandatory in March 2026. It applies whether you're using AI to draft correspondence, sort photographs, extract data from documents, or write reports.
It is not a ban on using AI. It's a set of conditions for using it in a way that keeps professional responsibility where it belongs — with the surveyor.
This is a plain summary written to be useful, not legal advice, and it isn't a substitute for reading the standard itself. If you're unsure how it applies to your practice, RICS is the place to check.
Professional indemnity lawyers writing for insurers expect negligence claims to start turning on whether a firm followed this standard. In practice that means a file showing you disclosed, you signed off, and you checked your supplier is worth having before you need it rather than after.
The good news is that it's mostly paperwork you can do once: a paragraph in your terms of engagement, a note in your file, and a supplier who can answer questions about where your data goes.
Since this is my page I should say where my own interest lies. Quill drafts only from what you recorded on site — it identifies no defects of its own and forms no opinions — so professional judgement never leaves you. Reports carry disclosure wording and a named sign-off, and there's a trail from every line back to your own notes.
On due diligence: it runs on your own subscription, inside your own account. Your reports and your clients' correspondence never touch a system of mine, which makes that particular question straightforward to answer.
And if you're using some other AI tool, or thinking about one, the four points above are the questions to put to whoever is selling it. Ask them where your data goes. A supplier who can't answer plainly is telling you something.
No presentation and no deck — just a conversation about how your practice actually runs. If I don't think I can help, I'll say so on the call rather than take your money and find out later.
Adam Humphrey · Fourth Impact · adam@fourthimpact.com · 07893 941669