What it asks of your firm, who it applies to, and where to start. Written plainly, for the people who have to act on it.
Since 9 March 2026, every RICS-regulated firm that uses AI has had to govern it to a published professional standard. It supports the use of AI. It asks you to make and record sound judgements about how you use it. The work is real, but it is finite and it is organisable.
The Standard turns on materiality: whether an AI output could influence how you deliver a service. Everyday tools used on client work can be in scope. The Standard asks you to make and record that judgement, not to guess.
| Area | What it asks of your firm |
|---|---|
| Materiality first | A recorded judgement on whether each AI use is material. This decides what else applies. |
| Baseline knowledge | Everyone using AI understands how it works, its limits, and the risks of error, bias and data exposure. |
| Practice management | Data governance, a register of your AI systems, a responsible-use policy, and a risk register reviewed on a regular cadence. |
| Using AI day to day | Due diligence before you buy, a signed reliability decision on every material output, client disclosure and explainability. |
| Developing AI | Extra records on data, permissions and testing, only if your firm builds its own AI. |
The common thread across all of it: evidence you can produce on demand. "We are careful" is not an answer.
The AI we deploy comes governed: the registers, the reliability log, the audit trail and the disclosure records, set up to the Standard from the start. The research behind it is Project Thunderpoint™, our work on dependable, well-guarded AI.
See Security & AssuranceThis guide is educational. It helps a RICS-regulated firm understand the Standard and organise its response. It is not legal advice and does not certify or guarantee compliance. Work Transformers is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to RICS. References to the RICS AI Standard describe the standard this guide helps you address; we do not reproduce its text.
We can map where your firm stands against the Standard and agree the shortest route to close the gaps.