Google announced Friday that it\u2019s rolling back a new AI image-generation feature for Google Earth after users sounded the alarm over misinformation concerns linked to easy-to-make fake satellite photos. <\/p>\n
The decision to pull the tool from Google Earth came just one day after it was introduced to the company\u2019s satellite-imagery program, resulting in a slew of bizzare and disturbing images, including fake bomb blasts in major cities. <\/p>\n
Powered by Google\u2019s Nano Banana 2 technology, the feature allowed Google Earth users to generate photorealistic images within the platforms satellite, aerial and 3D imagery by simply writing a text prompt for any location across the globe.<\/p>\n
Google rolled back its new AI tool in Google Earth a day after it was introduced. Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Users flocked to the new feature embedded within Google Earth\u2019s interface after it was introduced Thursday and were able to create particularly harrowing, realistic images of war-torn cities and homeless encampments that did not exist. <\/p>\n
\u201cTonight I typed just one sentence into Google Earth and put refugees near the Mexican border. Then I planted a nuclear plant in Iran. Then I put a fatal crash on a street in Amsterdam,\u201d 404 Media<\/a> reported, citing a since-deleted blog post by OSINT (Open source intelligence) researcher Henk van Ess.<\/p>\n In a test by 404 Media, the outlet was able to generate skyscrapers in rural settings; add a homeless encampment to an an area of Los Angeles where homelessness is a major political issue; generated bomb blasts and craters in the City of Angels; and created protesters outside of Google\u2019s corporate buildings.\u00a0<\/p>\n German investigative reporter Ben Huebel slammed the new AI feature, calling it \u201cabsolutely irresponsible and plain bad for investigations,\u201d in a LinkedIn post Thursday.<\/a><\/p>\n Google said the new tool can be used to revisit history among other features, but many users generated images that violated their policies. google<\/p>\n In a press release Thursday, Google advertised the generative tool as being able to create \u201ccustom images to help you visualize history, create real estate plans and more.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHave you ever looked at an empty lot in your neighborhood and imagined a community garden, or wondered what your city looked like a century ago? Now Nano Banana 2\u2019s image generation capabilities in Google Earth can show you both,\u201d the press release read.<\/p>\n While the tool could generate what cities looked like hundreds of years ago, many users were able to create harrowing images of warn-torn cities and homeless encampments. google<\/p>\n However, Huebel strongly disagreed with the advertising of the AI product and said \u201cthis isn\u2019t what many people will use it for.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you type the address of your workplace and then prompt it to \u201cmake it look like a drone attack happened here,\u201d it will create a damning image that looks very close to what we\u2019ve seen in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and other war-torn conflict zones,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s harrowing and horrific, and it will make verification work much more difficult,\u201d Huebel added, acknowledging that even if people \u201cuse detection tools to determine that an image was altered by Google, there are ways to override those indicators, no matter what people tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is BAD,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n The new tool is powered by Google\u2019s Nano Banana 2 AI model. google<\/p>\n Van Ess told NPR t<\/a>hat nothing was off limits when he trialed the feature. <\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n