Google pulled the plug on an artificial intelligence tool that allowed users to create fake images on Google Earth — shutting it down just hours after its global debut.
“We’ve seen geospatial professionals using this feature for a range of useful purposes, however we’ve also seen people sharing screenshots of generated imagery that appear to violate our policies,” the company said in a July 31 statement.
“So we’re rolling back this feature in Google Earth while we work on implementing stronger guardrails,” the statement said.
The reversal came a day after the Silicon Valley giant unveiled the tool, touting it as something that could serve a range of purposes, from helping students visualize the past to strengthening real estate pitches.
“For the first time, you can generate custom images using Google Earth’s satellite, aerial, and 3D imagery alongside Nano Banana,” Bryan Horowitz, a Google Earth product manager, wrote in a July 30 statement. “Just zoom in to a place in Google Earth on web, tap ‘create image,’ and type whatever you want to see.”
But the feature drew alarm almost immediately, as experts warned about the risks of tampering with satellite imagery — which is relied on by journalists and open-source researchers to verify news events.
“The opportunities for abuse and [disinformation] are literally boundless,” Evan Hill, a reporter at The Washington Post focused on visual forensics, wrote on X.
“I tried refugees at the Mexican border, a nuclear plant in Iran, a crash in Amsterdam, a hospital with a bomb crater in Gaza. Nothing was refused,” Henk van Ess, an open-source researcher, told NPR.
The outlet published fake images generated by the tool, including one showing fires raging in Iran and another depicting Washington, D.C., inundated by floodwater.
The BBC also published images showing the Eiffel Tower collapsed and the Great Pyramid of Giza swallowed by a massive sinkhole.
In its July 31 statement, Google noted the AI-generated images “didn’t appear in the main Google Earth experience for others to see” and that they were “watermarked as AI generated.”
First rolled out in 2005, Google Earth is a Google mapping app that lets users explore the globe with satellite imagery, 3D terrain and Street View. Maps are often refreshed every few years.
The Independent has contacted Google for comment.
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