Your clients use AI too. A seller may ask a chatbot what the house is worth before they ever call you. Some sellers write their own listing description with AI, and some edit their own photos. A buyer may ask a chatbot to draft offer terms, or to summarize a forty-page inspection report.
None of this is bad. A client who did homework is often a better client. However, the work arrives without anyone having checked it, and the person who will be held to it is you.
The gap in NAR's template
NAR's AI Policy Template for Brokers governs AI used "by all agents, staff, teams and authorized vendors" of the brokerage. A client is none of those, so the client's tools fall outside the template's scope. Nothing in the template tells an agent what to do with AI work a client brings in.
The template's accountability rule still applies to the agent, though. It says that agents and staff "are fully accountable for any AI-generated content they use, share or publish on behalf of the brokerage." The rule does not ask who made the content. So the client's AI work becomes the agent's work as soon as the agent uses it.
Treat anything a client made with AI as a first draft that no licensed person has reviewed yet. Then give it the same review you would give your own AI drafts.
Five situations are worth preparing for.
The price the AI gave them
The best-documented automated estimate is Zillow's, because Zillow publishes its own error rate. Zillow reports a nationwide median error of under 2 percent for homes listed for sale and about 7 percent for homes that are not. Zillow also says the Zestimate is not an appraisal.
A home is off the market until the day it lists, so the higher figure is the one that applies to a seller's first conversation with you. A general chatbot publishes no error rate at all, so its number has even less behind it.
Do not argue with the tool. Instead, show the client the comparable sales you used. Then note in the file that you considered their number and explain why your recommendation differs.
The listing description they wrote
Fair housing law does not ask who wrote the words. Section 3604(c) of the Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to publish any housing notice, statement or advertisement that indicates a preference, limitation or discrimination based on a protected characteristic. An agent who submits a seller's copy to the MLS is publishing it.
This is not a theoretical risk. In late 2012, a Tampa agent and his brokerage were sued in federal court over a listing on his website. Another agent had written the listing, and it appeared on his site through an IDX feed. The agent was later dismissed, and the brokerage settled.
NAR's template lists the kinds of phrases to watch for, such as "Great neighborhood for families with children" and "Quiet, mature community." Run the seller's text through exactly the review you would give your own.
The photos they edited
Photo editing apps make it easy to remove cracks, stains and power lines. NAR's glossary says that virtual staging "must be clearly disclosed in listings and must not misrepresent the actual condition of the property." Standard of Practice 12-10 of the REALTOR® Code of Ethics also requires a true picture in advertising and specifically bans misleading images.
So compare every photo a client supplies with the property itself. Disclose any edits, and refuse any edit that hides the home's condition.
The contract language they drafted
This situation has the clearest line. Article 13 of the Code of Ethics prohibits REALTORS® from engaging in activities that constitute the unauthorized practice of law. Every state also restricts the unauthorized practice of law, so a license does not let you draft legal terms for a client.
So when a client hands you AI-written special provisions, do not paste them into the form. Use your standard forms, and send the client to a real estate attorney for anything the forms do not cover.
The summary of a report or disclosure
AI summaries leave things out, and they sometimes invent things. Therefore the summary is not the report.
Read the source document yourself, and never forward a client's summary as if you had prepared it. If the report shows a defect, you now know about the defect, whatever the summary said.
How to raise it without insulting the client
The review only works if the client keeps bringing you their work. If they feel corrected, they will stop showing it to you, and the risk moves somewhere you cannot see it. So explain the review as something you do for everything, including your own drafts.
"Thanks for doing this. I run everything through the same check before it goes out under my license, including what I write myself. Let me look it over, and I'll show you anything I change and why."
What the brokerage should add to its policy
NAR's template, and policies built from it, are written for the brokerage's own tools. So a brokerage that uses it needs one more clause. That clause should cover four points:
- Content a client supplies that was made with AI, or may have been, is treated as an unreviewed draft.
- That content gets the same review as AI content the agent made, before it is published, sent or put in a transaction document.
- The transaction file records where the content came from and who reviewed it.
- Agents have a short, friendly script for explaining the review to clients.
The broader brokerage questions are covered in what NAR's template leaves to you.
Sources
- National Association of REALTORS®, AI Policy Template for Brokers, with AI Glossary and Agent & Staff FAQ, March 2026 (Sections 1, 6 and 8; glossary entry "Virtual Staging"). Public copy hosted by Bay East Association of REALTORS®.
- Zillow, "What is a Zestimate?" (zillow.com/zestimate), on the Zestimate's median error and its statement that the Zestimate is not an appraisal. Boston.com, October 21, 2026, reporting Zillow's figures of 1.77 percent for homes on the market and 7.20 percent for homes off it.
- Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. §3604(c).
- Inman, "Agent dragged into fair housing lawsuit over listing he didn't represent," March 13, 2013.
- National Association of REALTORS®, 2026 Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice (Article 13; Standard of Practice 12-10).
About NIRAP
The National Institute for Responsible AI Practice is an independent standards and certification body for professional services firms that use AI tools rather than build them. Its brokerage program combines a guided toolkit that your own staff completes, an hour of AI Governance 101 training for everyone who uses AI, and RAICB™ certification, in which a NIRAP assessor reviews your evidence against the V-AGE™ standard.
This article is for general information and is not legal advice. NIRAP offers the certification program discussed here.