Google has withdrawn its newly launched artificial intelligence satellite image generation feature from Google Earth less than 24 hours after its debut, following sharp criticism from researchers and open-source intelligence experts, according to Opensourceforu. The “Create Image” feature integrated Google’s Nano Banana 2 image generation technology into Google Earth, letting users zoom into any location on the platform and generate synthetic satellite, aerial, or 3D images by entering text prompts.
Google Rolls Back Google Earth AI Feature After OSINT Backlash
The tool was unveiled Thursday, July 30, 2026, and was initially described by Google as a way to visualize history, create real estate plans, and assist urban planners and educators. However, the update was rolled back on Friday, July 31, 2026, as reported by msn.com, and completely suspended by August 1, 2026, according to Streamlinefeed.
Deepfakes and Bypassed Guardrails Spark Disinformation Fears
Within hours of the launch, digital investigators bypassed the system’s rudimentary safety guardrails to generate hyper-realistic deepfakes depicting non-existent disaster zones, military installations, and fabricated events. Open-source researcher Henk van Ess tested the feature and noted that nothing was refused, stating on Substack that Google spent 20 years building a reference map that the world checks against before adding a button that makes things up.
Van Ess successfully used single-sentence prompts to place a fabricated nuclear power facility in Iran, a sprawling crowd of refugees near the US-Mexico border, a crash in Amsterdam, and a hospital with a bomb crater in Gaza.
Additional investigations successfully generated fake scenes including floods across Bangladesh, a migrant caravan camped at the border, a suspicious warehouse holding vans in Georgia, and a bomb blast crater in central Los Angeles. Brady Africk, a research analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, warned that the feature made it easier to generate convincing fake satellite imagery that can spread quickly online, mislead the public, erode trust in authentic imagery, and make verification more difficult for journalists and researchers. Ross Burley, executive director of the London-based Centre for Information Resilience, called the feature irresponsible and noted that trust in satellite imagery could be irrevocably damaged overnight.
Google Responds and Explains the Rollback
Google stated that it is temporarily removing the feature while developing stronger guardrails after users shared AI-generated screenshots that appeared to violate company policies. The tech giant emphasized that generated images were watermarked as AI-generated and never appeared in the main Google Earth experience for other users to see.
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,
a Google spokesperson said in a statement.
Google also noted that users seeking to verify images can use the Gemini chatbot app or Google’s Lens feature.
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