Artificial intelligence is changing the world at a rapid pace—from self-driving cars to chatbots that write emails. So it’s no surprise that companies are now applying AI to the real estate and title industry. Automated document analysis, AI-powered title searches, and predictive risk modeling are popping up everywhere. But here’s the problem:

AI just isn’t ready to handle the complexity and liability of real-world title searches.

And if you’ve been in the business as long as we have, you already know why.

First, AI still makes basic mistakes. These tools, especially large language models, are designed to predict answers—not actually know them. That means they can hallucinate or invent facts that look accurate but aren’t. In title work, that’s dangerous. One missed lien or misread legal description could lead to delayed closings, legal disputes, insurance claims, and angry clients. We’ve even seen AI-generated title reports that looked polished but missed major gaps in the chain of title or ignored handwritten deed notes. That’s not just a tech issue—it’s a liability.

Second, public land records are a mess. They vary from county to county, and older documents are often handwritten, scanned poorly, or damaged. Some records have indexing errors, missing pages, or off-record agreements that only a trained human would know to look for. AI struggles with nuance and can’t flag something that just “looks off” the way an experienced abstractor can.

Third, context still matters. Knowing whether a lien or easement affects title isn’t just about locating it—it’s about understanding what it means. That requires legal knowledge, jurisdictional awareness, and the ability to cross-reference document chains. AI might find the document, but it doesn’t understand how it fits into the full story. Humans do.

Even professionals in the field are skeptical. One title examiner on Reddit said they were hired to fix AI-generated reports where more than half the conclusions were wrong. Another user warned that AI is only useful for surface-level document finding, not real decision-making. When the experts are this cautious, it’s worth listening.

Now, this doesn’t mean AI is useless. It has real potential in the title industry—as a tool. It can help sort documents faster, pre-fill templates, flag issues for review, and automate some repetitive admin tasks. That’s valuable. But AI should assist, not replace, the people doing the real work.

At Security American Title, we’re embracing the future—but with caution. We believe that no matter how advanced technology becomes, nothing replaces the skill, experience, and judgment of a qualified title professional.

We’ll keep doing it the right way—with human eyes, expert review, and care you can count on.