Will AI Replace Notaries? 72% Risk, But Your Physical Presence Still Matters

The Stamp May Be Going Digital, But Can AI Actually Replace You?

Here is a number that should make every notary public pay attention: 92%. That is the automation rate for maintaining notarial journals and records, the bread-and-butter record-keeping task that has defined the profession for centuries. When nearly all of your documentation work can be handled by software, it is time to ask what comes next.

According to the Anthropic Labor Market Report (2026) and supporting research, notaries public now face an overall AI exposure of 76% and an automation risk of 72%. These are among the highest numbers in the entire legal services category. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a -5% decline through 2034 for this occupation, and with only about 55,000 notaries employed at a median salary near $45,000, even a modest percentage decline means thousands of positions.

But the real disruption is not just about AI. It is about what happens when AI meets remote online notarization.

What AI Is Already Automating

Maintaining Notarial Journal and Records: 92% Automation Rate [Estimate]

The record-keeping backbone of notarial work is almost entirely automatable. Digital notary platforms can log every transaction automatically, including timestamps, signer information, document types, and fees collected. These systems create audit trails that are more reliable and searchable than handwritten journals, and they never lose a page or make a transcription error.

Verifying Signer Identity and Document Authenticity: 88% Automation Rate [Estimate]

This one might surprise you, and it is the biggest threat to traditional notarial practice. AI-powered identity verification systems now use facial recognition, government ID scanning, biometric matching, and knowledge-based authentication to verify signers with an accuracy that arguably exceeds a human notary examining a driver's license across a desk.

Companies like Notarize, PandaDoc, and DocuSign are already deploying these tools at scale. In states that have authorized remote online notarization, or RON, the entire identity verification process can happen through a screen, with AI doing the heavy lifting while the notary provides the legal authority.

Ensuring Compliance with State Notary Laws: 70% Automation Rate [Estimate]

Compliance monitoring is an AI sweet spot. Because notary laws vary significantly by state, keeping track of requirements used to be a manual, error-prone process. Now, AI systems can automatically apply the correct state-specific rules to each transaction, flag potential compliance issues, and maintain up-to-date regulatory databases.

Administering Oaths and Affirmations: 45% Automation Rate [Estimate]

Here is where the line holds. Administering an oath is a legal act that carries weight precisely because a real person, vested with legal authority by the state, is looking another person in the eye and asking them to affirm the truth of what they are signing. This is a fundamentally human transaction, and while it can happen via video conference, it cannot happen without a human notary present.

Remote Online Notarization: The Real Disruptor

The data tells one story, but the RON revolution tells another. As of 2026, over 45 states have enacted some form of remote online notarization legislation. This means that for most document types, signers no longer need to physically appear before a notary.

When you combine AI identity verification with RON platforms, you get a service model where a single notary can handle dramatically more transactions per day. Instead of scheduling in-person appointments and waiting for signers to arrive, a RON-enabled notary can complete notarizations back-to-back via video calls, with AI handling the verification, compliance checking, and record-keeping in the background.

This does not eliminate notaries, but it does concentrate the market. A smaller number of tech-savvy notaries working through RON platforms can serve the same volume as a much larger number of traditional notaries. That is why employment projections are negative even though the total number of notarized transactions continues to grow.

The Blockchain Question

There is a longer-term threat that traditional notaries should monitor: blockchain-based document certification. Smart contracts and distributed ledger technology can theoretically provide document authentication, timestamping, and tamper-proofing without any human intermediary.

While blockchain notarization has not yet achieved mainstream legal acceptance in the United States, several countries are experimenting with it. If and when blockchain-based alternatives gain legal standing, they could disrupt even the RON-enabled notary model by removing the human notary from certain transaction types entirely.

What Notaries Should Do Now

1. Get RON Certified Immediately

If your state offers remote online notarization, get certified now. This is not optional for career survival. RON-certified notaries have access to a dramatically larger market and can work from anywhere.

2. Specialize in Complex Notarizations

Not all notarizations are equal. Estate documents, international transactions, medical directives, and real estate closings involve complexity and sensitivity that benefit from human expertise. Position yourself as a specialist rather than a commodity service provider.

3. Build Volume Through Platforms

Notary platforms like Notarize and Snapdocs connect notaries directly with signers. Building a strong profile and reputation on these platforms creates a sustainable pipeline of work that a standalone traditional practice cannot match.

4. Understand the Technology Stack

Learn how AI identity verification works, how digital certificates function, and how electronic signatures are legally validated. The notary who can troubleshoot a failed biometric scan or explain digital certificate chains to a confused signer adds value that a purely automated system cannot.

For detailed occupation data including year-over-year AI exposure trends and task-level automation rates, visit the Notaries Public occupation page.

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AI-assisted analysis based on data from the Anthropic Labor Market Report, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and ONET. Last updated March 2026.*

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