Airbnb had to apologize and pay compensation for the actions of a homeowner who decided to collect money with the help of an AI fake.
The host falsely claimed that a female scientist from London had caused £12,000 worth of damage. As evidence, he used strange “photos” that seemed to be processed by AI. As a result, the tenant was refunded almost £4300, and the rental company launched an internal investigation.
A British woman booked a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, New York, for two and a half months to stay there while studying. However, she decided to leave early due to a sense of insecurity in the neighborhood.
Shortly after her departure, the host informed Airbnb that she had caused a specified amount of damage. In particular, he presented a photo of a cracked coffee table as evidence, and accused the tenant of soiling the mattress with urine, damaging the robot vacuum cleaner, sofa, microwave, TV, and air conditioner.
The woman denied any damage to the apartment. She said that she had left it in good condition and had only two visitors during the seven weeks she had been staying. A close examination of the two photographs of the coffee table shows differences in the damage, which led the woman to believe that they had been altered or created by artificial intelligence. She believes that the owner was taking revenge for the early termination of the lease.
Initially, Airbnb, «after carefully reviewing the photos», reported the need for a refund of £5314, which the woman disagreed with and appealed.
«I informed them that I could provide an eyewitness account from an eyewitness who was with me when I left and who could swear to the condition in which the property was left: clean, undamaged and in good order. I have also clearly demonstrated visual discrepancies in the images of the same item (a wooden table) provided by the owner, which show clear signs of forgery. These discrepancies are simply not possible in genuine, unedited photographs of the same object. This should have immediately raised alarms and discredited the host’s claims if the evidence had been reviewed with even basic scrutiny, but not only did Airbnb fail to detect this obvious manipulation, they completely ignored my explanations and clear evidence that the material was fabricated», — the victim stated.
Five days after the The Guardian raised the matter with Airbnb, she was told that her appeal had been accepted and that £500 had been credited to her account. When she later stated that she was not going to re-book through Airbnb, the company offered a refund of £854, a fifth of the cost of her reservation. The woman refused to accept this and received a full refund of —£4269. The negative review the host had posted on her profile was removed.
The man who falsely complained is listed on Airbnb as a “super host”. He did not respond to a request for comment. Airbnb stated that he was warned for violating the terms and conditions and could be removed from the database if another similar complaint is received. The company said it could not verify the images he provided in the complaint. Airbnb apologized and stated that it would review the case further.
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