The AI systems register: what RICS requires (free template)
What the RICS AI standard requires an AI systems register to contain, who must keep one, worked examples for surveying firms, and a free CSV template you can use today.
Of everything in the RICS professional standard on responsible use of AI (effective 9 March 2026), the AI systems register is the most concrete deliverable — and the least understood. The good news: the written minimum is four fields.
What the standard actually requires
Under the standard's system-governance requirements, RICS-regulated firms must maintain a written register that includes details of:
- any AI system used that has a material impact on the delivery of surveying services,
- the purpose for which that AI system is used,
- the date on which the system was first used, and
- the date on which the use and appropriateness of the system will next be reviewed.
That is the minimum. A register with only those columns is compliant on its face — but a register that also captures the materiality reasoning and a named owner is far more useful when someone asks you to justify an entry eighteen months later.
What belongs on it — worked examples
The register covers systems with a material impact, and “AI system” is broader than most firms first assume. Typical entries for a quantity surveying practice:
- Drawing OCR / measurement tools that extract quantities feeding a cost plan — usually material, because a client relies on the result.
- Document drafting assistants used on reports and advice — depends on how output is checked; the review step is what your reasoning column is for.
- Meeting transcription — often immaterial where minutes are humanly reviewed, but log the decision rather than the assumption.
- Embedded AI inside estimating, BIM or document-management platforms — easy to miss because nobody installed it deliberately.
For any tool, treat vendor claims about data use and training with care — check the current terms rather than recording another firm's summary as fact. The standard's due-diligence requirements tell you exactly what to ask suppliers in writing.
Free template
A ready-to-use register template with the four required fields, plus optional columns for reasoning, decision-maker and notes — with three worked example rows.
Keeping it alive (the part firms get wrong)
Registers fail socially, not technically. Three habits prevent that:
- Put a name on it. A register nobody owns is a register nobody updates.
- Log at the moment of adoption. The new tool that arrives mid-project is the one that never gets recorded. Make “add it to the register” part of trying any new tool.
- Honour the review dates. The standard's risk-management requirements expect at least quarterly review of the AI risk register — use the same rhythm to re-check your systems register, because tools change under your feet.
One more distinction worth knowing: the systems register is not the same as the risk register the standard also requires — the former lists tools and review dates, the latter tracks the risks of using them. Related guides: building your AI tool library and getting started with ComplyQS.
In ComplyQS the register maintains itself: it is derived live from the tools you log and the materiality decisions you record on projects, so it is never a separate document to remember.
See it working — 180 days freeThis article is general information, not legal or professional advice. ComplyQS is not affiliated with or endorsed by RICS. Check tool entries against each vendor's current published terms.