AI's Impact On Real Estate Photos And How California's New Law Aims To Deal With It

AI is officially bleeding into the world of real estate photography. But a new law in California is poised to set the record straight and inform would-be house buyers when it's in use. According to Assembly Bill 723, real estate agents and brokers are obligated to include a "reasonably conspicuous" statement "disclosing that the image has been altered" when listing photos have been modified using editing software or artificial intelligence. The law also declares that if AI is used, responsible parties must "link to a publicly accessible internet website, URL, or QR code that includes, and clearly identifies, the original, unaltered image". This law was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October and went into effect on January 1st, 2026.

The emerging influx of AI-enhanced real estate photography isn't just affecting California — we're seeing this trend across the nation. More and more house hunters are finding virtually staged photos and AI walkthroughs when they log on to sites like Zillow or Redfin. While brightening a room or using a fish eye lens to make it appear more spacious have been common in real estate photography, we're entering a realm where listing photos are becoming distorted and misleading with the help of AI. It's a new hurdle to jump when fielding potential homes to buy. With housing markets predicted to heat up in 2026, we're likely to see more news surrounding the use of AI in real estate photography and the industry at large.

There's no denying it, AI is an increasingly unavoidable force. However, growing consumer concerns over the new technology are also mounting. Issues such as job displacement and rising energy bills are just a couple of sneaky downsides to living near an AI center. Despite these problems, all signs point to AI sticking around. In the case of real estate photography, altered images can often be misleading and cause confusion for home buyers.

"I've been at a few conferences over the past few weeks, and just anecdotally speaking, we'll ask out of 100 people in the audience how many are using AI, and I'd say 80 to 90 percent of people raise their hand. We are seeing this huge uptick in people using it," Dan Weisman, the director of innovation strategy at the National Association of Realtors (NAR), shared with Wired. And the reason is simple — where it used to cost a fortune to get a listing staged or even virtually staged, now a realtor can simply plug their photos into ChatGPT for a similar result for free. 

Where does that leave the house hunter? For now, it seems like most states are lagging behind on laws mandating disclosure for AI-altered real estate photography. However, states like Colorado and New York are pushing for different guardrails to protect citizens against potential harm from AI-generated content. With the rate at which real estate listings are being affected by misleading AI, it's only a matter of time before more states adopt a similar law to Assembly Bill 723. For now, add "keep an eye out for AI" to the list of savvy ways to survive house hunting.