AI photos are making it harder to know what you’re booking on Airbnb.

Josh Wells, a college student from Iowa, was excited to explore Montreal on his first trip outside the U.S. But as he scrolled through Airbnb listings in search of a place to stay, he began to notice something that didn’t seem quite right.

Several of the hosts renting out their properties had profile pictures that Wells suspected were generated by artificial intelligence.

“Your average person taking an iPhone photo, there’s obviously like a little bit of imperfections,” Wells told the CBC’s Cost of Living. “The AI photos, they just looked too perfect.”

Still, Wells kept browsing. He was even close to booking one of the properties when a final look at the listing’s photos raised another red flag.

He zoomed in on a piece of wall art depicting two halves of faces joined together. At the top, the artwork appeared to read “Picasso.” But in another photo of the same room, taken from a different angle, the artwork looked different.

“The text was all warped and funky,” he said. “I’m just like, ‘Yeah, OK, this is AI.” 

When booking his trip to Montreal, Wells found extremely polished-looking photos of hosts appeared in numerous Airbnb listings, leading him to suspect they had been generated using AI. Short-term rentals in that city are subject to strict rules aimed in part at protecting the city’s housing supply. (Josh Wells/Reddit)

That was enough to put Wells off the listing — and ultimately using Airbnb for this trip. Unable to tell whether the photos showed a real place or an AI-generated version of one, he opted for an apartment-style hotel instead.

“The fake profile picture is one thing, but listings of the actual place that you’re staying at and spending thousands of dollars was an immediate no for me,” Wells said.

Wells isn’t the only traveller to question whether the photos found on Airbnb or similar short-term rental-style platforms accurately reflect reality.

In July, an Ottawa family reported that their daughter arrived at a Toronto Airbnb to find a room that looked significantly different from the listing photos, which they suspected had been generated or heavily altered using AI. 

The family provided side-by-side photos showing differences in the room and bathroom. Airbnb said the listing did not match the property and refunded the guest, but did not confirm whether artificial intelligence had been used.

As AI makes it easier to alter photos, experts say travellers may find it increasingly difficult to know whether Airbnb-style listings accurately reflect reality, raising questions about consumer trust and protections in Canada.

When a photo makeover goes too far

The proliferation of free, quick and easy-to-use AI tools is making photo editing increasingly tempting, said Francis Syms, associate dean in the faculty of applied sciences and technology at Humber Polytechnic in Toronto. 

Beyond the major AI platforms, such as ChatGPT, Claude by…