Google has withdrawn its AI satellite image generation feature from Google Earth less than a day after launch, following criticism from the OSINT community that it could fuel disinformation with convincing fake imagery.
Google has rolled back its newly launched AI satellite image generation feature for Google Earth within 24 hours of its debut after criticism from the open-source intelligence (OSINT) community over its potential to create convincing fake satellite imagery and spread disinformation.
The “Create Image” feature used Google’s Nano Banana 2 image generation technology to let users zoom into any location in Google Earth and generate synthetic satellite, aerial or 3D images by entering a text prompt.
Google said it is temporarily removing the feature while it develops stronger guardrails after users shared AI-generated screenshots that appeared to violate its policies. The company added that generated images were watermarked as AI-generated and were never displayed in the main Google Earth experience.
“We know that people uniquely trust Google Earth for a reliable view of the world. 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. So we’re rolling back this feature in Google Earth while we work on implementing stronger guardrails. It’s important to note that generated images didn’t appear in the main Google Earth experience for others to see and were watermarked as AI-generated,” Google said.
Open-source researcher Henk van Ess highlighted the risks, stating, “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.”
Brady Africk, Research Analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, warned that AI-generated satellite fakes could mislead the public, erode trust in authentic imagery and make verification more difficult for journalists and OSINT researchers.
