All the better if it can maybe lead at least some of the more mom & pop landlords to not charge more because they're looking to recoup staging costs.

The staging costs are a drop in the bucket relative to the extra $ they're bringing in just by better marketing the space. Like one month of upsell from an empty box to a staged apartment likely covers those costs - everything else is pure profit.

They're pricing things based on what the "market" will support, and that doesn't change whether they spend $200 staging or $2 AI staging. Mom and pop landlords are still wealth parasites trying to maximize profits.