Airbnb listings in Montreal and Toronto feature AI-generated images that don't match the actual properties
Guests are finding that some Airbnb photos look too perfect to be real—and when they arrive, the rooms look nothing like the listings. The platform hasn't confirmed how many listings use AI.
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Josh Wells, a college student from Iowa booking his first trip outside the U.S. to Montreal, grew suspicious when browsing Airbnb listings. Several host profile pictures looked artificially perfect. "Your average person taking an iPhone photo, there's obviously like a little bit of imperfections. The AI photos, they just looked too perfect," Wells said's Cost of Living.
When Wells examined listing photos more closely, he found wall art showing two halves of faces joined together with text that appeared to read "Picasso." The same artwork looked completely different from another angle: "The text was all warped and funky." Wells decided against booking and chose 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," he said.
The problem is not isolated to Montreal. In July, an Ottawa family reported that their daughter arrived at a Toronto Airbnb to find a room significantly different from the listing photos. The family suspected the images were AI-generated or heavily edited and provided side-by-side photos showing the discrepancies. Airbnb told the guest the listing did not match the property and issued a refund, but did not confirm whether AI had been used.
Francis Syms, associate dean of applied sciences and technology at Humber Polytechnic in Toronto, identified widely available AI tools beyond major platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google's Gemini. "In a matter of 10 seconds, you can upload a picture to one of these sites and ask it to remove all the smudges or to change the furniture. You'll get that image back maybe 30 to 60 seconds later," Syms said. Hugging Face, one such platform, hosts thousands of AI tools for uploading and editing photos.
Airbnb's policies on AI-generated images, the scale of the problem across listings, and any enforcement or penalties remain unclear. As AI-generated restaurant food images sparked customer backlash in Toronto last month, and AI images appeared on CNE food posters in August, similar concerns are now reaching the travel booking space.
What is Airbnb's policy on AI-generated images in listings, and how does the platform verify authenticity?
How many Airbnb listings in Canada are suspected of using AI-generated or heavily altered photos?
We'll update this story as answers emerge.
The facts
What did Josh Wells notice suspicious about Airbnb listings in Montreal?
Josh Wells found host profile pictures that looked artificially perfect and listing photos containing artwork with inconsistencies visible from different angles, such as warped text.
What happened when a Toronto family's daughter arrived at an Airbnb in July?
The room was significantly different from the listing photos. Airbnb acknowledged the listing did not match the property and issued a refund, but did not confirm whether AI-generated images were used.
How quickly can AI tools edit photos, according to Francis Syms?
Francis Syms, associate dean of applied sciences and technology at Humber Polytechnic in Toronto, stated that AI tools can process photo edits in 30 to 60 seconds after uploading an image.
