Questions AI furnishing Updated on
May I show a room furnished with AI?
The short answer
Yes, if you say that it is AI, and if what you show is actually possible.
Article 50 of the European AI Act requires that imagery of a real place that has been generated or edited with AI is disclosed as such. Funda, the largest Dutch property portal, allows edited imagery provided the photo itself says it is an edit, and only if it is structurally possible. That is why with us the label sits in the image and not underneath it, windows, doors and stairs stay where they are, and the empty version stays in the same tour, so anyone can check it. An AI furnishing is an impression, not a construction drawing.
- Imagery generated or edited with AI is disclosed as such (AI Act, Article 50).
- Funda asks for the disclosure in the photo itself, not in the text underneath.
- What is not structurally possible may not be shown.
- A disclaimer lowers the bar, but does not remove it.
What the AI Act asks
Article 50 of the European AI Act is about transparency. Anyone who generates or edits imagery of a real place with AI, where that imagery could pass for real, has to say that it was made with AI.
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That disclosure has to be clear, and be there at the latest the moment someone first sees the image.
A living room that is empty in reality and furnished in the image is exactly that kind of image. It looks like a real room, because it is a real room.
What Funda asks
The publication rules of Funda, the largest Dutch property portal, are the strictest written rule in this market.
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They allow edited imagery, provided the photo clearly states that it is an edit. Almost the entire advisory chain says you put it in the description underneath. According to those rules, that is not enough.
Funda also draws a substantive line: if something is not structurally possible, it may not be shown, and so no furniture either that could never fit in that room for its size.
The label belongs in the image, not in the text underneath.
A disclaimer is not a free pass
The Rotterdam district court ruled in 2016 that an artist impression does give an indication, but that the impression it creates must broadly match reality.
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The Hague court of appeal in 2024 struck down a standard brochure disclaimer because a duty to inform had been breached.
A disclaimer therefore lowers the bar, it does not remove it. That is why we keep a record of which version was online when.
How the future tour does it
- The label sits in the image
- What is there, stays there
- The empty version stays with it
- Not every room is equally suitable
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- The label sits in the image. Every furnished view carries the disclosure in the image itself, and on the first visit the tour shows the AI disclosure before you look around.
- What is there, stays there. Windows, doors, columns and stairs stay where they are, and nothing is shown larger than it is.
- The empty version stays with it. With a slider you go from now to later in the same tour, so you can check it yourself.
- Not every room is equally suitable. Large mirrored walls and rooms full of people are the hardest tasks. We review the viewpoints in advance and say per room whether it will work.
Sources
A few follow-up questions
Is an AI furnishing a construction drawing?
No. The furnishing is made with AI on the basis of the real capture, so it is imagined, not measured. If you need images that match the working drawings, for example for a permit or a tender, this is not suitable for that.
How sharp are the furnished images?
Less sharp than our regular captures. We shoot at more than 20,000 pixels wide; an edited room comes out lower, in the order of 8 to 12 thousand. On a screen you do not see it, when zooming in far you do. The unedited version in the same tour keeps the full resolution.
Where does the home in the example come from?
It is a public capture from the Zillow Indoor Dataset. We made the furnishing with AI, and the image says so. Try the future tour.
Continue reading
- May people appear recognisably in a virtual tour? When you need consent for people in a virtual tour, why staff are a special case, what blurring solves, and what applies to imagery made with AI.
- Do I choose a 360 tour, a 3D scan or both? A 360 tour is photography, a 3D scan a model you can measure in. When to choose which, what we do in 3D, and why it can also be both.
- What determines the price of a virtual tour? What determines the price of a 360 tour: viewpoints, shooting days, interaction and hosting. Plus the four questions that make prices from providers comparable.