Google Earth Pulls AI Image Generator After Users Created Misleading Images

As soon as the new feature was announced, users began creating misleading images — some of them far more serious than Godzilla attacking a city. | AI-generated, via @DarthMiaul

The virtual ink had barely dried on PetaPixel’s article last week covering the news that Google Earth had added the Nano Banana AI image generator before the company quickly pulled the feature.

The speedy U-turn is because users were generating images that “violated” Google’s policies. These included making misleading satellite images like the Eiffel Tower in Paris toppled over, fake nuclear plants in Iran, and streams of refugees at the Mexico-U.S. border.

The software is widely seen as a reliable data source for satellite imagery. So when Google Earth images start depicting planes crashing into Manhattan skyscrapers, it is not a good look for the company.

“We know that people uniquely trust Google Earth for a reliable view of the world,” Google says in a statement. “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.”

“We’re rolling back this feature in Google Earth while we work on implementing stronger guardrails,” Google adds. “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.”

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 pic.twitter.com/WSjdcEXWJx

— 𝚑𝚎𝚗𝚔 𝚟𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚜𝚜 (@henkvaness) July 30, 2026

Digital misinformation expert Henk van Ess published a series of examples on his X page, illustrating how easily misleading and potentially dangerous Google Earth images can be created.

You open Google Earth. You zoom to any coordinates on the planet. You click create image. You type what you want to see. Like this fake hospital and bomb crater in Gaza I just made. What?? (3/5) pic.twitter.com/D84BeIgkzZ

— 𝚑𝚎𝚗𝚔 𝚟𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚜𝚜 (@henkvaness) July 30, 2026

“What on earth is Google doing?,” Van Ess asks on his blog, Digital Digging. “Google spent 20 years building the reference the world checks against. Today it added a button that makes things up.”

In response to Van Ess’s work, Google says that “every image created with Nano Banana in Google Earth includes the SynthID digital watermark, so if someone is unsure about an image, they can ask the Gemini app or use Lens in Search to see if the image was AI-generated.”

The BBC reports that in its tests, the SynthID watermark was effective with AI images generated on Google Earth. But it was possible to circumvent these “checks and trick Gemini into saying these fake Google Earth images are real.”

An X community note placed on Google’s statement reads, “SynthID AI watermarks utilized by Google are only placed on sections of AI-generated media made with Nano Banana, allowing for the circumvention of AI verification.”

Google says Nano Banana will return to Google Earth once stronger guardrails are in place.