Google rolled back its Google Earth AI image generator on July 31, 2026, after a single day of availability due to concerns about deepfake creation. The tool, which used text prompts to edit satellite and 3D imagery, demonstrated reality-warping capabilities that posed misuse risks.
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A text prompt was all it took to generate reality-warping images using Google Earth's satellite, aerial, and 3D imagery with a now-rolled back AI feature, like these images generated by Digital Digging's Henk van Ess that show "refugees near the Mexican border" and a bomb crater near a hospital in Gaza. Google initially responded to […]
Google has shut down Google Earth feature it launched Thursday that allowed users to edit satellite images with text prompts using AI. The tool essentially let users create AI deepfakes of the real world using text prompts; Digital Digging's Henk van Ess, for example, intentionally generated images adding things like refugees near the Mexican border […]