Google quickly withdrew a new image generation feature for Google Earth after researchers demonstrated its ability to produce realistic and misleading satellite, aerial and 3D views.
Google withdrew a new artificial intelligence tool for Google Earth which allowed users to edit satellite images, aerial views and 3D via simple text prompts. The suspension of the feature, based on the Nano Banana 2 model, came less than 48 hours after the service was integrated, following demonstrations of the system’s ability to produce false and misleading images.
Google’s initial intention was to offer an educational and creative resource, but oper-source intelligence researchers, including Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins, and independent investigator Henk van Esshighlighted how easily the feature could be used to generate fake scenarios overlaid on real locations.
Van Ess, in particular, exposed the risks of the tool creating false images of refugees at the US-Mexico borderan Iranian nuclear power plant and a fatal accident in Amsterdam, all based on authentic satellite maps from Google. He claimed that Google had allowed “invented” images to be “fixed to real coordinates, drawn on real images”.
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“The falsification does not necessarily have to appear convincing in itself. It inherits the credibility of the map on which it was born” added van Ess.
The retirement of Google Earth’s new AI feature
“We know that people uniquely trust Google Earth for a reliable view of the world. We’ve seen geospatial professionals use this feature for a number of useful purposes, however we’ve also seen people share screenshots of generated images that appear to violate our policies” Google communicated.
“We are therefore retiring this feature in Google Earth while we work to implement more robust protections. It is important to note that the generated images did not appear in the main Google Earth experience for others to see and were watermarked as AI generated”.
