Online backlash ends in Google rolling back Google Earth AI tool after a day
Brief
Google has walked back an AI feature that allowed users to generate artificial images inside Google Earth, after a predictable flurry of deepfakes.
Google switched on the AI image generation feature inside Google Earth’s web version on July 30. It was available to everyone.
The system used Google’s Nano Banana 2 image generator to create its images. That tool can already generate images from simple text input, but the advantage of doing it in Google Earth is that it can use the real satellite images as the basis for its deepfake versions. That makes it easier to make AI pictures with real, accurate building and landscape details.
In its initial blog post on the launch, it said that students could use it to “bring history to life”, while realtors could use it to produce professional real estate plans. However, others warned that the system could be used to mislead people.