The American Land Title Association (ALTA) recently sent a letter to the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment after its July 30 hearing on AI’s role in financial and insurance markets.
ALTA explained that the title insurance industry is using technology—especially artificial intelligence—to speed up transactions, lower costs, and improve efficiency, while still providing the protections homebuyers rely on. “Over the past decade, title companies have embraced AI, automation, and data analytics,” said ALTA CEO Chris Morton. “This helps streamline title searches, shorten processing times, and reduce expenses, all while protecting buyers’ biggest investment.”
From 2018 to 2023, technology investments helped cut the average cost of title insurance by 5% despite inflation. A 2024 survey found that 90% of title professionals already use AI, from spotting title issues faster to automating requests for HOA documents and mortgage payoffs.
However, many property records across the country remain undigitized, and only trained title professionals can interpret them, resolve debts, and ensure a property can be legally transferred. On average, agents spend more than 20 hours per transaction on this work—preventing costly issues and protecting billions in real estate value each year.
“Risk exists in every real estate transaction and can’t be eliminated by automation alone,” Morton said. “Innovation is important, but protecting buyers will always come first.”
