Rhiannon Mulligan was in the depths of house hunting in Sacramento in 2024 when she noticed a trend.<\/p>\n
Along with her partner, Mulligan drove an hour to view a home. The two knew the listing was digitally staged, meaning all the furniture they saw in photos online would not be in the actual home.<\/p>\n
What they didn\u2019t expect was that the digitally added furniture would never even fit in the house.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had staged it with a dining room, four chairs, a sectional, TV stand \u2014 all of this in maybe a 10-by-10 room,\u201d Mulligan, a senior legislative aide for Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, D-Santa Clara, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no way that would fit. If we had known how small that front room was, we wouldn\u2019t have even looked,\u201d said Mulligan.<\/p>\n
Mulligan mentioned the ordeal to her boss, who decided that she could do something about it.<\/p>\n
In October, legislation requiring advertisements<\/a> for property sales to disclose any use of artificial intelligence<\/a> or digital staging and include the original image before modifications were made was signed into law.<\/p>\n Now, Pellerin is looking to extend this law through AB 2025<\/a>, which would require the same disclosures for ads for rental properties.<\/p>\n The bill has already seen strong support and passed the Assembly in May.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to provide Californians with more information when they\u2019re looking for housing,\u201d Pellerin said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt simply requires that landlords be up front about it, so renters know what they\u2019re looking at before deciding to tour or apply for that unit,\u201d the lawmaker added.<\/p>\n Material changes, such as adding furniture or landscaping that does not exist naturally, would have to be disclosed.<\/p>\n Normal photo touchups, like lighting or orientation adjustments, would not need to be disclosed, Pellerin said.<\/p>\n Pellerin worked closely with the California Department of Real Estate to ensure that the bill could be properly enforced. Most of the time, according to Pellerin, enforcement comes as a warning to licensees to disclose AI use and post the unaltered image.<\/p>\n \u201cI think by creating a clear standard for all real estate licensees, we make it easier for them to know what is expected of them,\u201d Pellerin said. \u201cIt also means that licensees who choose to not use the digital staging don\u2019t feel that they\u2019re being left at a competitive disadvantage.\u201d<\/p>\n So far, California is one of the only states to have introduced legislation regarding AI use in the real estate industry.<\/p>\n