AI is changing the way properties are presented online, but at what point does visual enhancement become misrepresentation? A look at where realistic presentation ends and artificial fantasy begins in modern property marketing.
AI, when does it go too far?
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the way properties are presented and marketed online. Every day we seem to be seeing new adverts promising to transform photographs, redesign interiors, improve gardens, repaint houses, add furniture, create blue skies, or even completely reinvent how a property is seen by a potential buyer.
Some of these tools really are useful. Others are beginning to blur the line between helping buyers visualise a property and creating something that simply does not exist.
Personally, I think AI can be extremely helpful when it is used honestly and realistically.
For example, improving a dull photograph so it looks as though it was taken professionally on a bright sunny day with blue sky does not really bother me. A property photographed on a grey winter afternoon may look completely different the following day in sunshine. Enhancing the light, colour, or clarity to better reflect how it would genuinely appear on a good day seems perfectly reasonable to me.
The same would apply to virtual furniture in an empty room or showing possible decoration styles after somebody has already seen the property itself. AI can help buyers visualise potential. In many cases, that is useful, especially as many buyers struggle to imagine how a space could work once it was furnished or modernised.
Where I think the problems start to show is when AI stops enhancing reality and starts replacing it.
Recently I saw a property advertisement online where the first photograph showed an attractive renovated villa with stylish interiors and beautifully renovated rooms. Only later, after about ten photographs, did it become clear that the property for sale was actually virtually a ruin requiring complete refurbishment and, in some places, rebuilding. The opening images were entirely AI-generated concepts showing what the property might possibly one day become.
As soon as I realised that, I lost interest completely, not because the property lacked potential, but because I felt the marketing had crossed the line from visualisation into misrepresentation.
For me, there is an important difference between showing buyers what exists and helping them imagine the possibilities. I'm not comfortable showing them an imagined finished product before they are even aware of what the reality is. This is particularly relevant in cases where the buyer is expected to carry out the renovation. Showing realistic renderings of a project which is being sold as a finished article is a different matter.
Personally, I would far rather show a buyer the real property first and then say, “This is what could potentially be done with it.” To me, that feels honest and is a better way of proceeding, as you are not leading potential buyers into a disappointing situation. In this case, realistically generated AI images can be very helpful and are the equivalent of what we used to call “artists’ impressions”.
For me, another issue with AI-generated interiors is to do with scale and proportion. Many rooms which have been furnished by AI simply do not make physical sense. Oversized beds, huge sofas, and unrealistic furniture layouts are often placed into rooms where they would never actually fit in real life. Artificial intelligence is very good at producing visually attractive images. It is not always very good at understanding practical space.
An example of how and why this occurs would be to draw a simple square and tell AI to fill this garage with cars. AI will start working and try to interpret the instructions statistically rather than physically. Having asked it to fill the garage with cars, plural, it is highly likely to put two or three cars into the square. The fact is that, in reality, that square might not even be large enough for one usable garage space because no dimensions have been discussed.
It is the same when AI is asked to put furniture into a room. It does not know the actual size of the room, has no real reference points, and will therefore imaginatively place furniture which might never actually fit.
This is one of the reasons why, whilst I am pro-AI, I think it has its limitations when applied to property marketing. Used carefully, AI can help present properties more clearly and help buyers visualise genuine possibilities. Used badly, it risks creating disappointment, mistrust, and unrealistic expectations.
Technology will continue to evolve, and I believe the property industry should evolve with it, but for me the most important question is not whether AI should be used in property marketing, but how honestly it should be used.
At the end of the day, buyers are still purchasing a real physical property, not an artificial interpretation of one.
The video accompanying this article was, unsurprisingly, created using AI and shows how a single property image can gradually move from realistic enhancement into something far less believable.
If you are selling your property and would like to discuss a realistic approach to marketing, please get in touch as we would love to talk to you. Call us on (0034) 952 90 52 00, WhatsApp us, or email info@michael-moon.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
