The American Land Title Association (ALTA) has licensed its policy forms and survey standards to an artificial intelligence platform for the first time, allowing commercial real estate attorneys to evaluate title coverage and survey issues against official industry standards within a single system.
The multiyear agreement with Orbital, announced Nov. 11 and confirmed by ALTA Thursday, gives the real estate legal technology company access to ALTA Policy Forms, endorsements, and the 2026 ALTA/National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) Land Title Survey Standards.
The development marks a shift in how AI can be used in real estate transactions. Rather than simply extracting information from title documents, Orbital's platform can compare those documents against current, officially licensed standards governing title coverage.
For lenders, the significance lies in the potential to improve due diligence on the property rights and title protections supporting a loan.
Moving Beyond Document Extraction
Title commitments, insurance policies, and surveys contain information that can affect whether a property provides acceptable collateral for financing. Easements, encroachments, access restrictions, and other exceptions can complicate transactions or require additional review before closing.
ALTA's standards establish a common framework for evaluating those issues.
Under the agreement, Orbital users can examine title commitments, policies, endorsements, and surveys against ALTA's authoritative content without switching between systems. ALTA retains ownership of its materials and will provide updated content.
"Our forms and survey standards are the common language of title in the United States, and they do their job best when the people relying on them are working from current, authoritative text," said ALTA CEO Chris Morton.
Why Lenders Have a Stake
The agreement follows a broader effort to modernize title and settlement operations, where document review remains labor-intensive.
In May, NMP reported that First American Title Insurance Co. had introduced an AI-powered feature to analyze title search packages, extract information, and help title agents review documents more efficiently.
Orbital's agreement introduces another capability: access to the authoritative standards used to interpret the documents being reviewed.
The underlying standards also directly affect collateral protection. According to ALTA's guidance on land title surveys, the standards help lenders, title insurers, and surveyors identify boundary disputes, easements, encroachments, and other conditions affecting insurable title.
The latest ALTA/NSPS survey standards took effect Feb. 23, 2026, replacing the 2021 version. Among the changes were expanded guidance on title evidence and documentation of property occupation. The revisions also adopted language accommodating evolving surveying technologies, including AI and LiDAR, without prescribing particular methods.
AI Moves Further Into Title Operations
The licensing agreement comes as the title industry faces pressure to modernize while maintaining the accuracy and legal protections required in real estate financing.
ALTA's updated Best Practices Framework, released Oct. 8, strengthened guidance on vendor management, cybersecurity, information security, and regulatory compliance.
The association has also documented the complexity of title production. In a study of 449 title professionals across 47 states, ALTA found that more than 80% of purchase transactions require reviewing at least 11 documents, while nearly 60% involve clearing three to five title issues before closing.
Those findings help explain the appeal of AI-assisted review, particularly when the technology can work from established industry standards.
For mortgage lenders and settlement providers, the development points toward a more specialized generation of AI tools, built around the standards used to evaluate risk rather than document processing alone.
Orbital says the ALTA agreement is the first in a planned series of partnerships with professional organizations and providers of specialized real estate legal content.
