Estate agents warned over misleading AI property images

Estate agents have been warned not to use AI-generated images of properties to mislead buyers and renters. In a special report, ITV News consumer editor Chris Choi reported that Propertymark, the UK's largest association for property professionals, said the technology can be used but must be clearly labelled.

Some customers have told ITV News they feel deceived by marketing pictures that make properties look far more impressive than they really are. The ITV News report contrasted listing images with the reality. Jay Johnson, who was looking to rent a furnished flat, said AI was being used more and more in her search. She described a pictured bedroom with bright light, high ceilings and a large bed, but said the real room had a different coloured carpet, was untidy and contained a pair of underpants. "They shouldn't be removing people's underwear using AI," she said.

ITV News also compared a high-end flat listing with how the property really looked, saying it was far less impressive. A property expert based on the south coast of England said people travel as little as five minutes or as far as 100 miles to view a property and have their time and money wasted. She said buyers expect a modern interior and find an extremely dated home instead.

A compliance expert specialising in property rules told ITV News that using AI to tidy an untidy room would be fine. He said adding a blue sky to a dull day was acceptable because the sky was there anyway. But he said adding a door with AI crossed a boundary because it changed the layout of the room.

A spokesperson for the UK's leading professional body for property agents told ITV News that marking every single AI image was not always necessary. The body stressed that computer-generated images should be declared if there was any risk of misleading customers, and consumer law reinforces that. ITV News said the technology was becoming one of the biggest trust issues estate agents had faced in decades.