The RICS AI standard for individual members: what you need to do, whatever your firm does
If you're an RICS member and AI plays a part in your work, the RICS standard on AI applies to you personally. Not just to your firm. Some of its duties sit with the individual surveyor, and the standard says the surveyor named on a decision about an AI output accepts responsibility for its use.
That matters most if you work somewhere that isn't regulated by RICS, such as an investment manager, a lender or a developer. Your employer may have no AI policy, register or risk process at all. Your own duties still apply.
This guide covers what you need to do yourself, and how to protect yourself. If you're looking for what firms need to set up, read our guide for firms.
Summary
As an individual member, the standard expects you to keep your AI knowledge up to date, record whether your use of AI is material, make a written decision on whether each AI output you rely on is reliable, tell clients in writing before you use AI, and check samples when you use AI at volume.
If your name is on the reliability decision, you accept responsibility for how the AI output is used.
Does it apply to you?
Work through three questions.
- Are you an RICS member? If not, the standard doesn't apply to you directly, though it's a sensible benchmark and clients may expect it.
- Do you use AI in delivering a surveying service? That includes tools you've chosen yourself, tools your employer provides, and AI built into software you already use.
- Does the AI's output have a material impact on that service? RICS gives examples: AI summarising documents you then rely on in a report, AI writing all or a significant part of an opinion, or AI recommending which part of a building to investigate. If yes, record that decision and your reasoning (section 1.2).
If you work in-house. The standard talks about delivering a surveying service. It doesn't spell out how that applies when your work goes to your own employer, its funds or its investors rather than to an external client. If you're not sure whether your work is in scope, check with RICS. Until you know, following the standard is the safer course.
Your duties as a member
Know enough about AI
Develop and keep up a basic understanding of the types of AI you use, how they work, their limits and how they fail, the risk of wrong outputs, the risk of bias, and the data risks. Keep evidence: courses, reading, internal training.
Decide what's material
If you decide your use of AI will have a material impact on the service, make a record of that decision and the reasons for it. A short note per tool or per type of work is enough to show you thought about it.
Decide whether outputs are reliable
Apply your professional judgement (knowledge, skills, experience and professional scepticism) and record a written decision covering:
- the assumptions you made
- your main concerns about reliability, including the underlying data
- the reason for each concern
- whether anything could lessen each concern
- your conclusion: can the output reasonably be used for its purpose?
The decision is prepared by, or under the supervision of, a named surveyor who accepts responsibility for its use.
When an output can't be used
If you conclude an output can't reasonably be used for its purpose, tell the client in writing, with your reasoning or a summary of it.
AI at volume
If you use AI to automate outputs or produce them at volume, you don't need a written decision on every one. You do need to check randomised samples at regular intervals, and you remain accountable for each output.
Tell clients first
Before using AI that materially affects the service, make clear to clients in writing when and for what purpose it will be used. Terms of engagement also need to cover where AI is involved, professional indemnity cover (if available), how to contest its use, redress and opting out.
If you build AI yourself, section 5 adds further duties, including recording what it's for, its risks and alternatives, and how you'll check the quality of the data used to build it.
What your employer should be doing
If your employer is RICS-regulated, it has its own duties: protecting data, assessing whether AI is the right tool, keeping a register of AI systems, written policies, a quarterly risk register, supplier due diligence and explaining AI use to clients on request. Our guide for firms covers these.
If your employer isn't regulated, none of those firm duties apply to it under the standard. That doesn't change yours. In practice it means you may be the one asking the questions: which tools are approved, what data can go into them, and what cover is in place if an AI-assisted piece of work goes wrong.
Protecting yourself
These steps go slightly beyond the standard's minimum, but they're what we'd do in your position.
- Keep a personal AI log. The tools you use, what for, and whether you consider them material. One page is enough.
- Write reliability decisions as you go. File them with the piece of work. It takes minutes at the time and is very hard to reconstruct later.
- Think before you paste. Don't put client or confidential data into a personal AI account. Use an approved business tool, anonymise where you can, and check what consent is needed.
- Check your professional indemnity cover. Ask whether your firm's policy, or your own, covers work where AI was involved.
- Ask your employer the questions above, in writing, and keep the answers.
- Don't sign off what you can't explain. If you couldn't defend an AI-assisted conclusion without the AI, it isn't ready.
- Keep evidence of learning. A short log of what you've done to keep your AI knowledge current.
- Raise concerns in writing. If you're asked to rely on AI output you don't think is reliable, say so in writing.
Want a hand putting this in place?
Jimmy King leads our work on the RICS AI standard. Call him on 07971 595815 or email james@tidebridge.co.uk.
Get in touchCommon questions
My employer isn't RICS-regulated. Does any of this apply to me?
Yes. The duties on individual members apply to you wherever you work: baseline knowledge (section 2), recording whether AI use is material (section 1.2), written reliability decisions (section 4.2) and telling clients in writing (section 4.3). The registers, policies and supplier checks fall on regulated firms.
I work in-house. Is my work a "surveying service"?
The standard doesn't define this for in-house roles. If you're unsure, check with RICS. Until then, following the standard is the safer course.
I use ChatGPT on my own account to help draft reports. Is that a problem?
It can be. If the output materially affects your work, all the member duties apply. Separately, putting client or confidential information into a personal account is risky. Use an approved business tool, anonymise data, and check what consent you need.
Who is responsible if the AI gets it wrong?
The standard says the named surveyor on a reliability decision accepts responsibility for the output's use. Wider liability depends on your contract, your employer and your insurance, so take advice if you're concerned.
Do I need to tell my employer which AI tools I use?
The standard doesn't say so directly, but if your employer is regulated, it has to keep a register of AI systems that materially affect its services. Telling it is the sensible thing to do either way.
Sources
- RICS, Responsible use of artificial intelligence in surveying practice, professional standard, 1st edition, September 2025, effective 9 March 2026. Sections 1.2, 2, 4.2, 4.3 and 5.
This guide summarises the standard as it applies to individual members. It is not legal advice. Always check the standard itself for the exact wording.
