NYC may require landlords and realtors to disclose the use of AI in listings

This is awesome! StreetEasy is how many New Yorkers find apartments. In the past few years, it has been flooded with AI-staged apartments. The AI stagings warp the room to fit furniture that would 100% certainly not fit there. It’s deceptive, and I’m glad it at least requires disclosure now (although I wish it were fully banned)

I am a big supporter of AI and use it heavily. I agree with this. It's not about AI at all. It's about a blanket ban to prevent deceit when selling a product or service. It should be depicted as it is. AI just lowers the barrier for deceit (unfortunately), but it's not the only tool that can be used towards that end. Ban all deceitful advertising.

There's several other areas that would be good to categorically ban AI usage from:

  - gambling
  - dating
  - hiring
  - advertising

I say that as an AI maximalist: I fully trust AI with these things. I do not trust the humans using the AI.

Isn’t the more thorough solution banning deceptive product advertising?

It feels like this is already a whole thing that should already be solved.

Wasn't that already implicitly the case? Aren't there laws against deceptive advertising?

It sounds like an incredibly sensible rule. But is this something a mayor can just declare? Isn't this something aa legislative body has to decide?

This is a frustrating trend with real estate agents on their MLS pictures. Sure, they have a disclaimer (most of the time) but at a thumbnail size as the lead image, it’s not possible to see it’s AI. Which leads to clicking on a complete BS listing.

While we're at it, this should cover products and food in general too. I hate it when I see a poster that clearly has AI-generated images of food and the actual food you get is nowhere near what they generated.

Or even if it's similar, it's still clearly staged to look more appealing than what you should be getting.

Everyone knows deceptive advertising is bad, but somehow those who use AI for advertising turned their brains off on this topic because the images looked cooler than what they'd normally produce with a camera.

AI “virtual” staged images are reasonably common on UK property websites now but they have to be labelled, it seems: probably advertising standards rules.

I would personally love to see an end to the universally existing bait-and-switch of brokers listing unavailable units just to get you on the phone, then when you contact them, saying "Oh sorry that unit just got rented (or sold), but, I have another one that might suit you"

Facebook marketplace driving me crazy lately. A lot of people post photos of antiques and other furniture with obvious AI staging. It’s hard to tell what is real and what isn’t. At least there I can just demand the normal photos. I know that isn’t the case with most rentals in NYC because it’s super competitive and already gated in ridiculous ways with brokers and real estate agents.

I think this is common sense. You have what you have, not an alternative universe.

I'm generally a fan of laissez-faire.

But it's refreshing to see common-sense policies being implemented.

Like another comment posted: platform failures need higher-level (govt. in this case) intervention.

Without any consequences, it will just go on as before.

And he only seems to be calling for disclosure, which isn't worth a damn, and can be put into some nearly unreadable print.

Doesn't this already fall under consumer protection laws? False advertisement & consumer fraud.

Wait, this seems to be just about _disclosing_ the use of AI?

So realtor websites will get a tiny footer saying "image experience may be enhanced with AI"

(note my skilled use of "may" which actually means "are always 100% of the time"... ugh i hate it so much)

Hopefully that will serve as a virtuous example.

Please pass that law in France too.

you know what they say about stopped clocks

How does this work? Seems more like a law but cities dont have legislatures. Or … ?

Lmao, Mayor lives in dream land. Who's going to spend their days enforcing such a ban

Are protections really this weak in New York?

Where I live even using Photoshop for real estate advertisements is illegal, nevermind AI.

Requiring disclosure seems obvious.

Using AI for these pics is also not inherently deceptive though.

I live in an extremely overheated housing market where properties are usually sold/rented long before they actually get completed. I'm fine with landlords using AI in their renders to make claims about how the place will eventually look.

You also see people using AI to put furniture into the image (I assume they are also taking out the furniture that's actually there, belonging to the previous tenant, but doesn't fit their desired aesthetic). Again, nothing _inherently_ deceptive about this.

Main thing is just whether tenants are empowered to back out of the contract if they don't get what they were promised.

Anyone who e.g. uses AI to expand rooms/windows... Jail please.

What’s the point though? To save prospective renters time?

I’ve lived here for 30+ years, rented for more than 20 and why would anyone ever rent an apartment without seeing it in person?

That being said, IANAL but I imagine the rule is fully legal. The city already mandates a host of things: if the listing markets something as a 3BR, it needs to have 3 rooms bigger than 80 sq feet, each with an exterior window. If they say 3BR and it needs a wall to created the 3rd BR they have to put it up. If it says 2BR convertible 3BR, you might have to pay to have it put up.

Shit, we're still doing photos? Do a video, make a gaussian splat of it, and do virtual walkthroughs. matterport but for cheap.

HN title is missing the operative word "secretly". The real title:

> Mayor Mamdani Says Landlords Can’t Secretly Use AI Images to Advertise Properties

The article contents align with the real title: you just disclose AI usage when advertising rentals.

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Mamdani will be sued. It's a 1st amendment issue.

Isn't literally every photograph taken with a modern iPhone technically an "AI-generated / AI-edited image"?

Love the guy but let’s try something that doesn’t restrict freedom of the press!

We love restricting our enemies, but there are better ways.

I propose banning rent at all!

I think this could be something where the middle ground is the best option, this being, just make the rule that any listing with a picture that includes GenAI must also include the original un-AI’d photo right before it. This allows the lister to present the place as it is (important to the renter) and how it could be (important to the lister). I don’t think everything needs to be black and white

Freezes rents but not taxes. Landlords take inventory offline. Studios at $5500. 1 beds at $7500. Yea, he's a real genius of his own mind.

I'm assuming "AI images" means realtors using AI to stage empty rooms with furniture.

I'm honestly fine with that as long as it's labeled.

Having just done an apartment search a few months ago, AI staged images are surprisingly good quality. It's difficult to detect it as AI when going through a bunch of listings quickly. But yea, I guess it can cause confusion if it sticks a Peloton (or whatever) in a space where it won't actually fit.