Can you use AI-generated video on the MLS?

Usually yes, with two conditions: the video must present the property accurately, and anything digitally altered in it must be disclosed — the same rules that already govern virtually staged photos. NAR's Code of Ethics requires a 'true picture' in all marketing, most MLSs require altered images to be identified in the caption or remarks, and since January 2026 California law requires a disclosure and access to the unaltered original for any digitally altered marketing image. Your MLS's own field rules (unbranded, length, hosting) decide the rest.

Policy summary checked against NAR's 2026 Code of Ethics, NAR's MLS photograph policy and the enrolled text of California AB 723 on 27 August 2026. MLS rules are local and change — confirm your own MLS's video-field and disclosure requirements before submitting.

The question is really three questions — will the MLS accept it, what must be disclosed, and where — and the rules were mostly written for photos. They apply to video by the same logic: a video is a sequence of images of the property, and every rule about depicting the property accurately follows it in.

Rule 1: the true picture

Article 12 of NAR’s Code of Ethics requires members to “present a true picture in their advertising, marketing, and other representations” (NAR, 2026 Code of Ethics & Standards of Practice). A video that shows a room with furniture the room doesn’t have, or a finish it doesn’t have, isn’t a true picture unless it says so. This is the rule everything else hangs off, and it makes no distinction between a photograph, a rendering, and a video.

Rule 2: MLS accuracy and disclosure

NAR’s MLS policy on photographs requires the listing broker to own or have authority to publish what’s submitted (NAR, Use of Photographs in a Multiple Listing Service), and individual MLSs layer accuracy rules on top. The common shape, from MLS guidance published across the country: any virtually staged, AI-generated or AI-enhanced image must be identified as such in the photo caption, on the image, or in the remarks, and many MLSs ask for an unaltered “before” image of any room that’s been altered. Read your own MLS’s rules for the exact wording — they differ on where the label goes and whether the before-image is required.

Rule 3: California’s AB 723 (and the states behind it)

From 1 January 2026, California’s AB 723 adds §10140.8 to the Business and Professions Code: a broker, salesperson or anyone acting on their behalf who includes a “digitally altered image” in advertising or promotional material must include a disclosure, and where the image is posted on a website, the unaltered version must be included too (California Legislative Information, AB 723). The statute’s definition is the useful part for video: “digitally altered” means changing elements of the property — fixtures, furniture, appliances, flooring, walls, paint, landscape — through editing software or AI, and it explicitly excludes ordinary adjustments like lighting, colour correction, straightening and cropping that don’t change the representation of the property.

That line — does the frame change what the property is, or only how it’s lit and framed — is the test to apply to every frame of an AI-made video, in every state.

What this means for a photo-to-reel video

A reel made from listing photos sits close to the safe side of that line by design: the frames are the photos, with motion, captions and a narrator. But “close to” isn’t “on”. Generative motion can drift a detail, and a tool that offers staging or redecoration crosses the line on purpose. The working rule: review every frame before submission, treat anything that differs from the photograph as an altered image, and disclose it the way you would a virtually staged photo. Kadapt’s plan step exists for this — you approve the shot sequence and script before the render, and staging and redecoration are deliberately not features — but the review is yours, and no tool can promise a frame on your behalf.

The submission checklist

1. Unbranded cut for the MLS field, branded cut for your own channels — same plan, two renders.
2. Frame review: anything not the photo gets disclosed in the caption or remarks, per your MLS’s wording; in California, the disclosure and the original are required by statute.
3. Renderings labelled — for new construction, the renderings-and-disclosure notes apply to the video too.
4. Rights to the photos — a video is a derivative use; who owns MLS photos covers the licence question.
5. Narration checked for accuracy and fair housing — the fair housing checker runs the script; the compliant video guide covers the visual side.
6. Hosting and length per your MLS’s field spec — most accept a hosted link and cap the duration; a 15–30-second reel is well inside any cap we’ve seen.

Common questions