AI and image transparency statement

1. How an image is made

An estate agent uploads a photo of a room and chooses the market, the style and the type of room. A generative AI image model then adds furniture and decor to the photo and, where requested, first removes existing items. We use third-party models, currently image models from Google (Gemini) and, for some photos, a model from ByteDance (Seedream) accessed through fal.ai. We do not train models of our own. We choose the model, write the instructions and decide which results are delivered, so under the EU AI Act we are the deployer of the AI system and, insofar as our own software counts as an AI system, also its provider.

The model may produce several candidates. If none is good enough, we generate a new attempt, if necessary with a more specific instruction.

2. The human check

A person checks every image before delivery, compares it with the original and approves it only if all six points of our checklist are met:

• walls, windows, doors, floor, ceiling and view are unchanged;
• the furniture is correct in size and placement;
• light and shadow suit the room;
• there are no image errors, such as distorted objects or bent lines;
• the style matches the other rooms of the property;
• the resolution is at least that of the original, up to 4K.

If an image fails a point, it is rejected with a reason and a new attempt is made, or the photo is not delivered. There is no automatic approval, also not when we are busy.

Every approval is recorded: who approved, when, on which points and for exactly which file (by its hash). Our database refuses to deliver a photo without such a recorded approval. We keep this review log for 5 years. The human check is about accuracy and does not replace the label: an image that a person has checked is still an image made with AI.

3. The label on every image

Every delivered image carries a visible label in the bottom right corner, in the language of the market where the property is offered, readable on a phone screen. We label every image in every market, including outside the EU, and we never deliver a version without the label, not even on request. Example images on this site and in our emails carry the same label.

• Netherlands: “AI-impressie”;
• Germany: “Virtuell eingerichtet – KI-Visualisierung”;
• France: “Projection d'aménagement réalisée par IA – mobilier non présent”;
• Italy: “Home staging virtuale – immagine elaborata con IA”;
• United Kingdom and United States: “Virtually staged · AI”.

A staged photo of a real home can look like a real photo. Article 50(4) of the EU AI Act therefore requires us, as deployer, to disclose clearly that such an image has been artificially generated or manipulated, and that applies to our images wherever they are used. Every label keeps the word “AI”, or “KI” or “IA”, so the disclosure is clear in every market. The labels also follow the rules of Funda and the NVM in the Netherlands and the label rules of portals such as Rightmove and of most MLSs as we understand them; rules differ and change, and we update a label when they do.

4. Information in the file

Every delivered file states in its metadata that it was made with AI: the IPTC field Digital Source Type is set to a composite with trained algorithmic media, and a description in the language of the market says that the furnishing was generated with AI and approved by a person before delivery. Camera and location data are removed. Where an image model embeds its own provenance marking in the image itself, such as an invisible watermark, we keep it. Many portals and social media remove metadata on upload; the visible label remains.

5. The original always comes with it

Every delivery includes the unedited original next to the staged image, so the agent can show both. For properties in the United States, we also provide a public link to each original, without location data, that stays online for 24 months. California law (Business and Professions Code section 10140.8, introduced by Assembly Bill 723 and in force since 1 January 2026) requires the agent to place a statement on or next to a digitally altered listing image and to link to the unaltered original.

6. What we ask of estate agents

Our terms require agents to publish our images only with the label visible and uncovered, never to remove the label or the information in the file, and not to use an image to mislead. Agents also follow the rules of their portal, MLS and industry body: in the Netherlands, an AI image may not be the main photo of an existing property on Funda; in the United Kingdom, Rightmove asks for a current photo of the same room; in California, the agent adds a statement and a link to the original; and MLSs such as CRMLS want the original immediately before or after the staged image and their own disclosure in the listing. The agent remains responsible for the listing and checks every image before publishing it. We do not guarantee that a portal, MLS or regulator accepts a particular image.

7. What we do not do

• We do not change the property itself: no extra or moved windows, walls or doors, no larger-looking rooms, no hidden defects, no different views.
• We do not deliver an image without the label, and we do not offer a version without it.
• We do not deliver an image that a person has not approved.
• We do not claim that people create the images. A person checks and approves them; the furnishing is generated with AI.
• We do not use customers' photos or images as examples or in advertising without their written consent, and we do not let them be used to train AI models.
• We do not show examples on our site or in emails without the same label, or made from photos we have no rights to.
• We do not publish reviews without the reviewer's consent, and we do not write reviews ourselves.

8. Limits

A staged image is an impression of how a room could be furnished. The furniture shown is not part of the property. AI models can make mistakes, which is why every image is checked; if a mistake gets through nevertheless, our revisions and guarantees apply.

9. Questions or a concern

If you see one of our images that has been published without its label, or that you think is misleading, please tell us at hello@virtualhomestage.com. We look into every report and, where needed, ask the agent concerned to correct the listing.