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Searching for housing in the age of AI: racialized neighborhood recommendations across 10 U.S. cities

Author

Listed:
  • Megan Evans

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

  • Noli Brazil

Abstract

Urban residents increasingly rely on online tools to searchfor housing, raising new questions as to the role of digital tools in interrupting or reinforcing racialized housing searches. Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), in particular, represents a new intermediary in how neighborhood knowledge is created and distributed in housing platforms and search engines. This study examines whether ChatGPT engages in racial matching by systematically varying user demographics in housing queries across 10 large U.S. cities. Using 14,400 unique queries per city, we asked GPT-4o for neighborhood recommendations and areas to avoid. Merging AI generated recommendations with census data, we investigate racial patterns in how GPT-4o incorporate user characteristics and neighborhood demographics into their housing guidance. Findings suggest that AI recommendations reflect and may amplify existing patterns of residential segregation through systematic differences in how neighborhoods are recommended to different users. Results have important implications for informing both fair housing policy and the responsible development and regulation of AI systems in the housing market.

Suggested Citation

  • Megan Evans & Noli Brazil, 2026. "Searching for housing in the age of AI: racialized neighborhood recommendations across 10 U.S. cities," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2026-041, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2026-041
    DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2026-041
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    2. Boeing, Geoff & Besbris, Max & Wachsmuth, David & Wegmann, Jake, 2021. "Tilted Platforms: Rental Housing Technology and the Rise of Urban Big Data Oligopolies," SocArXiv 8jrfe, Center for Open Science.
    3. repec:osf:socarx:8jrfe_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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