What AB 723 actually requires
AB 723 amends California real estate law to require disclosure of any digitally altered image used in the advertisement or promotional material for the sale of real property. The duty applies to "a real estate broker or salesperson, or person acting on their behalf" — which includes virtual staging vendors operating on behalf of a listing agent.
The two required elements
- A statement disclosing that the image has been altered, "reasonably conspicuous and located on or adjacent to the image."
- A link to a publicly accessible internet website, URL, or QR code that includes and clearly identifies the original, unaltered image.
Site-controlled exception
If the listing is published on a site you control (your brokerage site, your IDX feed, your own landing page), the original image must also be embedded directly on the page — not only linked.
What counts as "digitally altered"
AB 723 defines a digitally altered image as one altered through photo-editing software or AI to add, remove, or change elements — including fixtures, furniture, appliances, landscaping, facades, or neighboring properties visible from the property.
Common-edits safe harbor
These are explicitly NOT digital alterations under AB 723: lighting, sharpening, white balance, color correction, angle, straightening, cropping, exposure, or "other common photo editing adjustments" that do not alter the representation of the property.
What AB 723 does NOT do
Three common misreadings of the statute:
- It does NOT ban AI virtual staging — it mandates disclosure plus original-image access.
- It does NOT require an on-image watermark — a textual disclosure on or adjacent to the image is sufficient under the statute itself. (Watermark obligations come from individual MLS rules, especially CRMLS Rule 11.5.2.)
- It does NOT preempt stricter MLS rules. Realtors must comply with both. Several California MLSs are stricter than the statute on watermark and parallel-image requirements.
Penalties and enforcement
AB 723 does not add a fixed fine. Instead, it folds undisclosed digital alteration into "false, misleading, or deceptive advertising" under existing California Department of Real Estate disciplinary jurisdiction (B&P §10176 / §10177). Sanctions include license suspension, revocation, and civil penalties.
On top of DRE discipline, undisclosed AI staging is independently actionable as a private cause of action under California UCL (Bus. & Prof. §17200) and CLRA (Civ. Code §1750), both of which carry attorneys-fees provisions. As of mid-2026 no published California judgment exists narrowly on AI staging, but the plaintiff-bar template is loaded.
The single disclosure phrase that satisfies AB 723 + every California MLS
A single disclosure block, burned into the bottom of every render, satisfies AB 723(a), AB 723(b), CRMLS Rule 11.5.2 labeling, and NAR Article 12 simultaneously:
This image has been digitally altered with generative AI virtual staging. The original, unaltered photograph is available at [URL/QR code]. Furniture and décor are not included in the sale. No structural elements, finishes, fixtures, or landscaping of the actual property have been modified in this image.
Pair it with a QR code linking to the unaltered original (satisfies AB 723(a)(2)) and you have a defensible compliance posture for any California listing.
How SofaBrain handles AB 723
Every SofaBrain render produced for a California listing ships with the disclosure phrase burned into the bottom 8% of the image, a paired-original photo packaged in the download, and EXIF/IPTC metadata flagging the alteration. The realtor uploads to the MLS — disclosure ships with the file.