Nearly Half of Hardin County REALTORS® Use AI Every Week—Who Is Supervising It? 

By T.W. Shortt, CRS®, CRB®, Broker, REALTY WORLD Knox Realty Group, LLC 

Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant idea. It has entered real estate offices across the country—and here in Hardin County. 

The National Association of REALTORS®’ 2026 Technology Report, released September 22, found that 23% of REALTORS® use AI daily and another 25% use it weekly. Half of REALTORS® are now using AI at least once a week. 

That raises a powerful question: Who is supervising it? 

The public Heart of Kentucky Association of REALTORS® directory currently contains 643 real estate professionals and 158 brokerage-office entries. Those listings include professionals and offices outside Hardin County, so they should not be represented as the number physically located here. They nevertheless demonstrate the size and competitive reach of our regional marketplace. 

Our housing market is driven by Fort Knox, military relocations, manufacturing, healthcare, new construction, retirees, investors, and families moving within the community. Fort Knox alone supports a workforce exceeding 22,000, while Baptist Health Hardin employs more than 2,800 people. 

In this environment, agents are using AI to prepare listing drafts, client follow-up messages, market summaries, social-media posts, and office workflows. Used effectively, these tools can improve response times, increase productivity, and help small brokerages compete. 

But speed is different from accurate. 

AI can invent a property feature, misstate a school assignment, or use language that creates a fair-housing problem. An agent working in Radcliff might ask AI to describe a home as “perfect for military families.” Another might allow it to describe a neighborhood as “ideal for young families.” Those phrases may sound harmless, but housing advertisements must market property without a preference for a protected group. 

Confidentiality presents another danger. Buyers’ financial information, sellers’ motivations, contracts, inspection reports, and private communications should not be entered into an unapproved AI system just for convenience. 

AI-altered photographs create additional concerns. Virtual staging can help buyers understand an empty room. It should not remove a defect, enlarge a room, manufacture a view, or otherwise misrepresent what a buyer will see at the property. 

The greatest risk may occur when AI begins explaining agency relationships, contracts, or legal rights without supervision. AI can help organize information, but it cannot replace the professional judgment of a Kentucky licensee, the supervision of a principal broker, or the advice of an attorney. 

We are entering an era of change. Brokers, agents, and staff must accept responsibility for using these tools properly. Every Kentucky brokerage should adopt five rules: 

1. Verify every fact before publishing AI-generated material. 

2. Protect confidential information only with brokerage-approved systems. 

3. Require human approval of advertisements, market reports, and client communications. 

4. Disclose materially altered images and preserve the original photographs. 

5. Keep legal and compliance decisions through effective broker supervision. 

AI can improve our work, but it cannot accept responsibility for it. As professionals and colleagues, we must make responsible oversight of a brokerage-wide initiative. 

Technology may change how we serve the community. It does not change our duty to serve