Apartment with strange view singled out in government’s fight against deceptive ads – but real estate agent says photo is no fake

• Get our new political email, free app or daily news podcast

The New South Wales government’s crackdown on “AI-doctored” rental listings has hit a wall, after it made an example of a supposedly manipulated ad that turned out to be a genuine photograph of a $5,000 courtyard mural of Bondi beach.

In a media release on Friday announcing protections against misleading rental ads, the state government provided a link to a property in Leichhardt, claiming it was an “AI-doctored rental listing in Sydney’s Inner West”.