Google paused its new satellite imagery feature less than 48 hours after launch. The tool let people use text prompts to build false scenes on top of Google Earth satellite imagery. That shift matters because the fake images could be downloaded and shared elsewhere.
Google Earth AI and Nano Banana 2
Google launched the feature on Thursday by integrating Nano Banana 2 into Google Earth. On Friday, it said it was pausing the feature while it worked on implementing stronger guardrails.
Google also said it had seen people sharing screenshots of generated imagery that appear to violate its policies. The company said people uniquely trust Google Earth for a reliable view of the world.
Henk van Ess on invented imagery
Before the pause, Henk van Ess created fake images of a non-existent nuclear power plant in Iran, a refugee camp on the US-Mexico border and a fake hospital in Gaza with a bomb crater next to it. He said Google had allowed invented imagery to be welded to genuine coordinates, drawn on genuine imagery.
“The forgery does not have to look convincing on its own. It inherits the credibility of the map it was born on,” he said.
Verify tests on Google Earth
Verify created images of a collapsed Eiffel Tower, a sinkhole swallowing the Great Pyramid of Giza and Russian tanks in Ukraine's capital when testing the feature. It also found that small changes to prompts could bypass Google’s rules, even after Google said its AI model guidelines would block harmful topics.
Google said AI content created by its tools contains invisible watermarks. It also said people who are unsure about an image can check it using the Gemini chatbot app or use the Lens feature in its search.
Verify found it was possible to circumnavigate those checks and trick Gemini into saying the fake Google Earth images are real. External AI detection tools sometimes failed to identify the Google Earth AI-content.
Henry Ajder said fake imagery in conflict zones could prove particularly destabilising when events are fast-moving and information is scarce. The unresolved question is what stronger guardrails Google will add before the feature returns.
