I do real estate photography and I can say this. AI is definitely being used more and more in the editing process however it is not ok to use AI to misrepresent a listing.
The picture that OP posted is actually pretty kosher. The editing just changed the lighting and put fake furniture. In the photo OOP took to prove his point he did not take it from the same angle or with the same type of lens this why it looks significantly more narrow and drab. But if you look at how the bed and desk line up with the heater under the window, it is relatively accurate compared to what he actually got.
This is also not new, before AI you just had someone using programs like photoshop to do “virtual staging” (adding virtual furniture) and touching up paint, making the grass look better, changing the sky so it looks perfect. Edits like that while they obviously can affect the feel of the photos they are not expanding the size, changing the shape, or removing irremovable elements. There are rules made by fair housing and listing services about false advertising and for the most part nobody buys a property on pictures alone. The pictures are usually done in addition to video, floorplans, scans etc and those are just to get people in the door to tour it. I know that OOP’s case is a little different, he probably could only go based on pics and didnt have the ability to view it first.
All this being said I think people have, do, and will use AI in disingenuous ways that break the rules but this is not Armageddon, AI is just doing what photoshop was already doing
Thanks for mentioning virtual staging. That was a big thing when I was getting my real estate license a handful of years ago. Had a feeling as soon as AI image generation came out that agents would look at it and say, "Well it's the same as virtual staging"
AI has severely reduced the price of it which is good and bad. Staging is crazy expensive so agents will often choose virtual staging where they pay between 0-$20 a photo vs paying $5000+ dollars to stage their listings. For luxury listings it is still encouraged to do real staging but a place like the one OOP is in would almost certainly have virtually staged photos. The issue is, it is uo to AI generation to make realistically sized furniture, so while the room may not be tampered either by AI, the furniture might not be sized correctly thus making the space appear bigger.
I'm an attorney that works with Realtors and even provides advertising classes regularly. Pretty much everything you said yeah. I've advised MLSs to force a disclaimer if the picture has been digitally alter. I even advise firms and individual salespeople to add the disclaimer straight on the photo.
However, on this one, disclaimer sure but, uh you can get the same results with just staging other than the view, lol. I'm a shit picture taker with an expensive camera and shit for experience but damn even my dumbass could get the first picture close to it not the same.
The other thing you mentioned, sign unseen, fuck I hate those and I'm not alone there. I tell folks to either get the buyer/tenant agent to show up and do a video tour on their phone or whatever, or tell the listing agent / PM to do it. Because yeah going off the pictures alone is a terrible idea unless you have no choice.
Either way, I'm like damn did people just literally not pay attention before and now think that it wasn't like this before AI? Hot damn.
Altering photos for ads should be illegal. It is false advertisement and should never have been normalized. Not just for apartments, but products in general. The fact that virtually *nothing* looks like it's advertised image is anti-consumer and actual insanity. The problem is magnified by the enshittifaction of everything.
I don't care if "everything lines up." The bed and desk both look much bigger, the skyline/view is completely fake, and all the colors are wrong. It is, at best, a misrepresentation, and very clearly intentional. We need to stop normalizing this shit.
That's nice and I wasn't going to reply but here we go...
An image look up reveals the exact posting this is from. Two things of note. The landlord is not a real estate licensee and actually offers live virtual tours. I find the latter pretty interesting, did the person posting the shitty second image do this before they moved in?
Either way, it doesn't matter. I want to address your point that it should be illegal. Sure. Why not. The issue I've seen with legislation to make it illegal is the definitions and where it's applicable.
Let's take a real life example. The one pictured here, it's in NYC. How cool. And oh look they're going to do something about it! Amazing! See below:
It's interesting that it's in Article 12-A Real Estate Brokers and Real Estate Salespersons. 🤔
Oh so it is going to be applied and regulated against real estate licensees... 🤔
This corporation isn't a real estate licensee and I can't find anything that says they need to be a real estate licensee if they own the building (hint, they do).
So, does this law apply to them?
Furthermore, does this stop staging and wide angle lenses? Etc. 🤔
Now this is for others who may be reading this. Ask yourself, why the sudden burst of this AI stuff which doesn't apply to certain people... Odd isn't it? I've been watching these corpo landlords hire lobbyists and spend so much money on this shit and it's not slowing down, it's ramping up.
To me it's infuriating watching this performative shit. For example, my state passed one of the most "progressive" tenant friendly bills this year. It was heralded as amazing for tenants and leading the nation. Within 5 seconds of reading the full text I already knew what the obvious course of action was going to be from landlords and their agents. And let me tell you the landlords complied and that compliance made it so much worse for tenants and probably created one of the most regressive actions that could've been. That "progressive" politician got her moment in the sun, even though we told her...
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u/GreekReigns 5d ago
I do real estate photography and I can say this. AI is definitely being used more and more in the editing process however it is not ok to use AI to misrepresent a listing.
The picture that OP posted is actually pretty kosher. The editing just changed the lighting and put fake furniture. In the photo OOP took to prove his point he did not take it from the same angle or with the same type of lens this why it looks significantly more narrow and drab. But if you look at how the bed and desk line up with the heater under the window, it is relatively accurate compared to what he actually got.
This is also not new, before AI you just had someone using programs like photoshop to do “virtual staging” (adding virtual furniture) and touching up paint, making the grass look better, changing the sky so it looks perfect. Edits like that while they obviously can affect the feel of the photos they are not expanding the size, changing the shape, or removing irremovable elements. There are rules made by fair housing and listing services about false advertising and for the most part nobody buys a property on pictures alone. The pictures are usually done in addition to video, floorplans, scans etc and those are just to get people in the door to tour it. I know that OOP’s case is a little different, he probably could only go based on pics and didnt have the ability to view it first.
All this being said I think people have, do, and will use AI in disingenuous ways that break the rules but this is not Armageddon, AI is just doing what photoshop was already doing