Article · AI translation
IT Home, November 13: Property photos are among the most important parts of online home listings. Buyers usually look at the photos first, then decide whether a home meets their needs and expectations for a purchase.
But as AI technology advances, a new kind of online deception is making viewing and buying homes more troublesome.
According to a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) this morning, “housefishing” (IT Home note: literally “house fishing”), in which AI is used to fabricate or enhance property photos, is becoming increasingly common. Some estate agents and sellers use AI to make extensive changes to photos, or even generate fake images outright, making homes appear more attractive, spacious or modern.
The BBC reported on one woman's experience. While searching online for a five-bedroom home in southwest London, Olivia Nicole became interested in a property listed on the real estate platform Rightmove. But when she went to view it in person, she thought she had come to the wrong place.
Olivia Nicole told the BBC: “The rooms were much smaller than in the photos, the decor was completely different, and even parts of the building's structure were different.” She found a protrusion in the wall behind the sofa that was not visible in the photos, and the windows were clearly smaller than they appeared in the photos. The house differed so much from the pictures that she took photos of the actual property to compare them.
It turned out that the property photos on Rightmove had been enhanced with AI. Olivia Nicole felt deceived and thought the estate agent had wasted her time, as she had specifically taken several hours off work to view the property.
The BBC noted: “Estate agents have long used wide-angle lenses or Photoshop to make homes look more spacious and appealing, and AI makes these practices simpler and easier to carry out.”
British internet personality Jack Bushrod, host of the social media series Housing Horrors, has noticed a marked increase in AI-enhanced property photos over the past six months, with most not clearly labelled as having used AI generation technology.
Bushrod does not oppose reasonable uses of AI. He believes it can be used to remove clutter from photos or add furniture to empty rooms, helping prospective buyers understand how the space could be arranged. But he opposes using AI to mislead buyers and waste their time on viewings.
He gave an example: “I've seen a house where a pillar had not only been removed from the photos, but an extra window had also appeared. Some people use AI to erase stains from carpets or remove cracks from tiles. These details are small and can only be spotted when you visit in person.”
Bushrod expects “housefishing” to become increasingly common. “I worry that as more estate agents start using AI, other agents will see the trend and follow suit.”
As AI photo editing becomes increasingly common, a spokeswoman for an estate agency told the BBC that her company has introduced a new rule requiring all AI-enhanced property photos to be clearly labelled. “We want to help people imagine what a home could become, rather than change the true appearance of the home being sold.”