Start your agency’s AI journey on the right foot with this handy guide
By Bryan Johnson, IT Director, Alliant National Title Insurance Company
2026 is finally here, and with the new year comes the opportunity to try something different. And in my view, there is no better goal than launching an AI pilot program if you haven’t already. As you likely know, AI is quickly reshaping how people work today. To keep pace with your competitors, it is wise to give serious consideration to how you can begin automating your operations. Of course, like so many other things, this is easier said than done. After all, AI is complicated. What workflow to focus on? How to implement it? What are the safety considerations? These are all important questions to address well before you launch your program. In this blog, I will try to address each one so you can launch your pilot program swiftly and without undue worry.
Start with a few questions
AI doesn’t need to be used everywhere at your agency, but chances are it could be used somewhere. To begin identifying areas for optimization at your agency, ask yourself a few questions about how your team works. Consider the tasks that are 1.) high volume, 2.) include repeatable steps, 3.) are relatively low risk and 4.) are easily measurable.
Some examples of tasks that might meet these criteria are:
- Document intake and review – AI can help organize and summarize documents, so staff can then review faster. Treat this action as a first pass. A human must still confirm accuracy and make any final decisions.
- Customer communication and service – You can also deploy AI to draft responses to common questions and turn notes into updates, enabling your team to reply more consistently and quickly.
- Commitment and exception support – AI can assist with drafting commitments and exceptions from approved templates and standardized language. Your team, however, must still review and finalize all commitments and exceptions.
This list is not meant to be comprehensive, merely reflective of the type of routine, repeatable and measurable tasks that AI excels at taking on. By using the four criteria I’ve outlined below, you’ll find other workflows that could serve as the basis of your pilot program.
Select and design your use case
Now that you have a few possible business areas where you could apply AI the next step is to choose one and assign a single team to manage it. It is equally important to define in advance how you’ll measure results. But to do that properly means you need to also be crystal clear as to what you’re trying to achieve. Is it cutting down on back-and-forth emails? Reducing the time it takes to review an order? Whatever you decide, just be sure you do it ahead of time to ensure that your AI program is adding value rather than creating new issues.
Establish your safety guardrails
With your team, goal and metrics established, the next step is to create clear guidelines around what the tool is and is not allowed to do. Remember that your AI program should act as a helper—never as a decision maker.
Begin by defining what data goes into the tool. Sensitive customer information should rarely be fed into an AI program unless the program is highly secure and approved for business use. And even then, you should only input what is necessary for the task at hand. It’s also good practice to sanitize your data in advance of uploading. Consider removing data points like account numbers, names or other personal identifiers entirely.
Put human intelligence at the heart
Don’t forget to also develop your AI review and approval process, as human intelligence needs to be fully looped into your pilot program. Before launch, define what stage of the process should trigger human review. To be safe, you can likely allow AI to draft, summarize or suggest, but human staff must always verify accuracy, apply critical judgment, consider nuance and make any final calls.
That goes double with any practice that could have an impact on customer coverage, brand trust or regulatory compliance. To make things easier for your agency, consider putting together a “review checklist” that can be applied every time you use AI. Verifying names and dates, cross-checking document accuracy and ensuring all legal requirements are met are all steps that deserve a spot on your checklist.
And as a rule of thumb, your most sensitive workflows should probably not be outsourced to AI, at least not at this current stage.
Define your red lines
As an added precaution, it is wise to define what your red lines are when it comes to AI—especially given the sensitive nature of title work. This list should go beyond your general data security practices outlined above, and they must be disseminated to your full staff to ensure that everyone is on the same page and to avoid costly, AI-related mistakes.
For instance, it is best practice to never allow AI to:
- Send messages directly to customers,
- Generate final title commitment language, or
- Touch anything related to wire transfers.
These red lines are intended not to create any unnecessary burdens or roadblocks to operational efficiency, but to protect you and your agency from blowback, data leaks and reputational harms.
Take the first step and enjoy the benefits In this still very new year, you are likely already thinking about how you can improve your agency’s operations and make headway on your business goals. AI can be an ally in this journey, and when thoughtfully applied, can enhance how you work and offer long-term competitive advantage. But as with any emerging technology, you never want to leap before you take a hard look at what you are trying to achieve and how you can accomplish your objectives safely. Launching a pilot program can be enormously helpful in this regard. And by leveraging the operational framework we’ve outlined here, you’ll be ready to maximize AI’s benefits, minimize potential harm, and create the conditions for lasting success.
