Trump’s executive order unlikely to slow adoption of AI in real estate

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order calling for creation of a voluntary review framework for the nation’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models before public release.

It also directs federal agencies to expand AI-powered Carrie Lysenko — chief technology officer at “For real estate, we do not expect a material slowdown,” she said. “The tools agents and consumers largely rely on in the space are built on foundation models from companies like Anthropic, OpenAI and Google. While we are likely to see participation from these major players, none of them are expected to significantly wait on a federal review cycle to ship products. The signal from Washington is still very pro-innovation, not restrictive.

“In practical terms, I don’t believe there will be significant delays. The 30-day voluntary review applies to frontier foundation models, not to the applications built on top of them. Proptech companies and brokerage platforms are largely not in scope here.”

Still, she said uncertainty could emerge if the federal government raises concerns about a major model that serves as the foundation for numerous downstream products.

“Products built on that model could see unexpected delay or there could be negative consumer sentiments or changing behaviors as we have seen in favor of one model over another,” said Lysenko. “There is currently no clear playbook for what happens if the government deems a model to present unacceptable risk. That ambiguity is the gap worth watching.”

Cybersecurity and integrations

New cybersecurity provisions in the order could be particularly relevant to the housing finance sector — with “The three risks that matter most for real estate operators right now; data exposure through third-party AI integrations, AI-generated social engineering like wire fraud and phishing and a potential over-reliance on AI outputs without human verification,” said Lysenko. “Brokerages need to treat AI cybersecurity as an operational risk management problem, not a compliance checkbox.

“Vet your vendors, control data access and provide training on how these tools actually work to limit the risk.”

Broader federal AI strategy

The order represents the latest step in the Trump administration’s evolving approach to artificial intelligence policy.

On his first day back in office in January 2025, Trump Lysenko said that broader trend could ultimately matter more to real estate than the newest executive order itself.

“The executive order does not directly regulate how brokerages use AI,” she said. “The equity concern here is more indirect; the AI labs best positioned to absorb voluntary federal review are the largest ones with legal teams and government affairs infrastructure. Over time, that is likely to concentrate the AI market further among a small number of providers — limiting choice for specialized or smaller proptech solutions.”

She added that larger brokerages may be better positioned to adapt.

“For independent agents and small teams, the broader pattern is the real risk,” said Lysenko. “As AI governance becomes more complex, firms with dedicated technology leadership will navigate it better than those without. That is exactly why the cloud-based brokerage model matters.

“When eXp makes AI governance decisions and vets vendors, those decisions scale across tens of thousands of agents globally. Our agents get enterprise-level oversight without necessarily building it themselves.”

Preparing for what comes next

Although the executive order does not impose direct AI compliance obligations on real estate professionals, Lysenko said brokers and agents should remain vigilant.

“The most important steps brokers and agents can take right now start with documenting which AI tools you are using and what data those tools can access,” she said. “Establish clear human-in-the-loop policies for workflows, business processes and definitely client interactions. Invest in agent AI literacy and training where possible, because the biggest compliance risk is potentially using AI without understanding its limitations or integrations.

“Large brokerages are in a strong position to build vendor relationships with robust governance terms. On the local level, agents can stay close to their state associations, because state-level action on real estate AI could move faster and with more direct impact than anything at the federal level.”