LO
ConstraintCognitive automation2025-09-30
RICS requires that a written decision on whether an AI output can be relied on be made by a qualified, named surveyor who accepts responsibility for its use, effective March 2026
Quantity surveyoroccupation page →
Event date / reported
2025-09-30
Evidence stage
ConstraintFailure, rollback, regulation or cost is suppressing adoption. Can lower an assessment or widen its uncertainty.
Tasks this bears on
Valuing work done and pricing changes
Monthly valuations for payment, pricing variations as the design and site change, and agreeing the final account.
Being augmented✓ Evidence-backed
Claims and disputes
Preparing and answering claims for delay and disruption, and negotiating or giving evidence when the money is contested.
Still human-led✓ Evidence-backed
Where this applies
A mandatory professional standard binding RICS members and RICS-regulated firms. Where AI output has a material impact on the service, including output composing all or significant parts of an opinion, a written decision about its reliability must be prepared by, or under the supervision of, an appropriately qualified and named surveyor who accepts responsibility for its use; for automated or high-volume use, firms must take randomised dip samples of outputs at regular intervals. It is supportive of using AI, names no quantity-surveying task, and binds members of one professional body.
What this means
For the surveyor's opinions — what a claim is worth, what work has been done — the profession has written down that an AI draft counts only once a named surveyor has decided it can be relied on and takes responsibility. The opinion stays with a person.
What it does not yet show
It binds one professional body's members; it does not show how many surveyors use AI or for which tasks.
What you can check
Open the RICS standard 'Responsible use of artificial intelligence in surveying practice' and find "an appropriately qualified and named surveyor who accepts responsibility for its use".
Does it change the assessment?
No. The impact index is never moved by a single event. Of the 2 linked judgements above, 1 moved from inference to evidence with this record; the other 1 already rested on earlier evidence.
Source
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors — professional standard, Responsible use of artificial intelligence in surveying practice (global, 1st edition, September 2025; effective from 9 March 2026) · verified 2026-09-27 · Claude (VOLO agent) · interpreted 2026-09-27 · Claude (VOLO agent)
Primary source — published by the party that did this, or the authority of record. No co-signature needed.