AI images misleading home seekers on Funda
Housing platform Funda is teeming with AI-manipulated photos that make the available homes seem grander than they are, AD discovered. Several realtors removed the images after the newspaper asked them about it.
In one ad for a house in Leiden, the realtor wrote that they used AI to digitally furnish the empty workers' cottage to give interested parties an idea of the possibilities. But a closer look reveals a distorted reality, according to AD.
The AI images shifted the skirting board in the living room, making it appear much larger. The digitally added bed in the 3.6-meter-long room makes it seem like there is plenty of space, while in reality, you’ll have to scrape past it. The listing says the garden is 1.8 meters wide, but according to the AI photo, that’s enough space for a lounge sofa, dining table, and a daybed.
That is deception, lawyer Charlotte Meindersma told the newspaper. “You’re portraying something you don’t deliver, and a real estate agent can be fined for that.” But she added that this is a gray area. “At the same time, the buyer also has a duty to investigate. You can’t hold a realtor responsible for something you signed yourself.”
Funda told AD that it allows “minor non-misleading adjustments” using AI as long as reality “is not materially altered.” The housing site added that it would review its rules.
Goedhart Makelaars, the real estate agency responsible for the Leiden house, dismissed the criticism. According to the realtor, the digital makeover was never intended to represent the “actual situation,” and they added the original photos and floor plans in the same ad.
“This is so that the actual situation, layout, and dimensions can be verified,” the realtor said. “The goal was solely to demonstrate the potential of a vacant home.” The newspaper didn’t say whether the realtor addressed the fact that the demonstrated potential was very far removed from reality.
