The public got there first

Hi Reader

The public started using AI years before surveying did. That single gap explains most of what follows.

What this week AI in Surveying edition covers:

• Clients arriving already briefed, having asked a model what survey they need and what your fee should be
• Search traffic moving into AI answers. Some large surveying firms have lost around a quarter of their website traffic in six months
• Complaints and letters of claim that take minutes to produce and considerably longer to defend
• Larger construction clients holding the data and the analysis, and wanting a surveyor only to sign
• Adoption inside firms that mostly makes old processes faster without changing them
• Shadow AI already happening in firms that believe they have none
• Graduates arriving fluent into firms with no tools and no policy

​Read the full edition here​

On the podcast this week

The claims section of the article comes partly from a recent conversation I recorded with Nick Rains, a senior contracts and wordings executive at Howden Insurance Brokers.

• The claims already arriving are not from surveyors using AI. They are complaints and letters of claim written by claimants using free AI tools
• There is a difference between a complaint and a letter of claim, and people are now sending the formal version without realising what it triggers
• A defence takes weeks to prepare. The reply comes back within hours, and every line of it still has to be assessed
• His closing point is about records. If you cannot prove the process you followed, it becomes a question of what you can actually evidence

​Listen here​

Need help with compliance of the RICS AI Standard?

I have been working on a project for the past few months, and we are now looking for a small number of firms to test it.

It is a comprehensive compliance and governance tool for the RICS AI Standard. It saves time, educates and supports compliance, and produces an ongoing evidence trail that shows the decisions your firm actually made. It is especially suited to SME's. When a compliant or a claim comes calling - you need to be able to evidence your compliance.

We want honest feedback from firms.

If that sounds like your firm, reply to this email and I will be in touch.

Nina

CEO, Surveyors UK

Helping surveyors navigate change

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