Apartment hunting has long required looking past flattering camera angles and carefully staged rooms. Now, renters may also have to question whether what they’re seeing is altered by AI.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on July 16 proposed requiring landlords, brokers and online listing platforms to disclose when rental listing photos or videos have been created using AI or digitally altered with AI or other digital tools.
“You shouldn’t have to worry whether or not the apartment you’re viewing online is real,” Mamdani said while announcing the proposal at Manhattan’s Tenement Museum. “After all, it’s called StreetEasy, not StreetHard.”
The proposal is part of the city’s Rental Ripoff Report, a package of 23 tenant-protection initiatives unveiled after officials gathered testimony from more than 2,400 renters during a series of “Rental Ripoff Hearings” held across the city’s five boroughs earlier this year.
This effort comes as generative AI is making convincing real estate listing images faster and easier to produce, raising new concerns about transparency in online housing marketplaces.
The phenomenon has earned its own vocabulary — “housefishing” — with the Guardian and Business Insider both tracing complaints about repainted walls, imaginary lawns and unnaturally smooth surfaces that read as giveaways of digital manipulation. The Atlantic called it “AI real-estate slop.”
The evidence spans hard data and vivid anecdotes alike: a Coraly analysis of roughly 40,000 listing photos on Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com and Homes.com found nearly 11% showed signs of AI alteration , while New York’s own Department of State issued a trend alert warning homebuyers to watch for “distorted or inconsistent details” like blurry backgrounds and mismatched window views.
Viral cases have made the stakes tangible: a Detroit bungalow’s AI-enhanced Zillow photos drew millions of views after a renter’s side-by-side comparison exposed a repainted facade and refinished floors that didn’t exist in person, and a Verge investigation documented a renter named Joyce whose apartment viewing revealed a missing fireplace, a different sink, and a stove with knobs that simply weren’t there.
Zillow, whose platform was named in the proposal alongside StreetEasy, said it supports the city’s push for greater transparency. “We support clear disclosure when AI is used to materially alter a listing image, and believe consumers should be able to view the original content alongside the altered version wherever possible,” a Zillow spokesperson told Fortune.
The company added that while “digitally altered listing photos are not new,” AI has made them “faster to produce, sometimes harder to spot and more widespread.”
Zillow said its content standards require listing photos to accurately represent a home. It added that its virtual staging feature is clearly labeled and paired with the original image so buyers can compare both versions. “AI should help set accurate expectations before a tour, not create surprises when a buyer walks through the door,” the company told Fortune.
The proposal follows similar efforts in other states. California enacted a law requiring disclosure when real estate listing images have been materially altered using AI or other digital tools, while New Jersey lawmakers are considering legislation that would regulate the deceptive use of AI-generated and heavily altered property listing images.
Justin Brookman, director of Technology Policy at Consumer Reports, told Fortune that AI has made it “increasingly possible to do photorealistic images in ways that really materially misrepresent what you’re getting.”
Brookman also mentioned that the stakes are particularly high for renters relocating from out of town who may have to sign a lease sight unseen. “They might sign a year-long lease, and they show up and they’re on the hook for staying in a place that was not what they signed up for,” Brookman said.
While deceptive listings may already violate consumer protection laws, Brookman said clearer disclosure requirements provide “basic guardrails” as AI-generated listing images become more common. He said AI-altered listing images could include a link to the original photo, and noted he has also seen recommendations that edited and unedited images be displayed side by side.
“In the spirit of transparency, people should know what they’re getting into,” he said. “At the very least, having an indicator that this was virtually staged, or these are some things that were added, I think is the baseline.”
Similar frustrations have also surfaced on social media. TikTok user Curt_Walker has posted multiple videos comparing StreetEasy listing photos with actual apartment tours. Under one video, a commenter said they viewed a Harlem apartment advertised with what appeared to be a second-floor loft with a dining area and bedroom, only to arrive and find “there was literally not even a ladder let alone a loft.”
If adopted, New York City would become one of the latest jurisdictions to regulate how AI is used in real estate listings, reflecting a broader push by lawmakers to ensure AI tools do not mislead consumers making one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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