Google Earth’s AI deepfake tool only lasted one day
Google has temporarily disabled a new Google Earth feature that allowed users to generate AI-based satellite imagery after concerns regarding deepfakes. The company is implementing stronger guardrails following reports that the tool could be used to create misleading content.
Why it matters
This incident underscores the ongoing challenges tech companies face in balancing generative AI innovation with safety and misinformation risks.
Google has shut down Google Earth feature it launched Thursday that allowed users to edit satellite images with text prompts using AI. The tool essentially let users create AI deepfakes of the real world using text prompts; Digital Digging’s Henk van Ess, for example, intentionally generated images adding things like refugees near the Mexican border and a bomb crater by a hospital in Gaza. On Thursday, Google’s initial response to van Ess noted that images generated with Nano Banana 2 in Google Earth included a digital watermark and that the company prevented “image creation on harmful topics.”
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