Google pulled a new AI image-editing feature from Google Earth less than 24 hours after launch.<\/p>\n
The company launched the function on Thursday, allowing Gemini’s Nano Banana<\/a> 2 image model to access Google Earth and transform locations with text prompts.<\/p>\n The function, however, quickly got out of hand. AI researcher Henk van Ess, for example, created extremely realistic deepfakes, including fake refugee camps along the US-Mexico border and a nuclear plant in Iran.<\/p>\n Tonight I typed just one sentence into Google Earth and put refugees near the Mexican border. Then I planted a nuclear plant in Iran. What on earth is Google doing? Check my latest post here: https:\/\/t.co\/N0h6CVECqS<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/WSjdcEXWJx<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 \ud835\ude91\ud835\ude8e\ud835\ude97\ud835\ude94 \ud835\ude9f\ud835\ude8a\ud835\ude97 \ud835\ude8e\ud835\ude9c\ud835\ude9c (@henkvaness) July 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Other users used the tool to create AI images of a nonexistent flood and a 9\/11-style attack.<\/p>\n By Friday, Google had reversed course.<\/p>\n “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,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement posted on X. “So we’re rolling back this feature in Google Earth while we work on implementing stronger guardrails.”<\/p>\n Google added that the AI-generated images were watermarked and never appeared in the public Google Earth experience.<\/p>\n Google is not the only company that has lately rolled out AI features only to quickly remove them. Meta launched Muse Image<\/a> on July 7 with a feature that allowed users to generate AI images using images available on all adult-owned public Instagram accounts that had not changed their settings to opt out. Meta removed the feature in less than a week and said it had “missed the mark.”<\/p>\n