Google suspends new AI image feature in Earth after misuse concerns
Google halted the Nano Banana AI tool in Google Earth less than a day after launch, citing user-generated content that violated company policy and raised disinformation risks.
Google has withdrawn the Nano Banana AI feature from Google Earth after users created images that the company said breached its policies. The tool, which allowed users to overlay AI-generated scenes onto satellite, aerial and 3D imagery, was launched with safeguards such as watermarks and a cryptographic "SynthID" tag to identify synthetic content.
A Google spokesperson told Fortune that the generated images did not appear in the main Earth experience for other users and were marked as AI-created. The company said it was rolling back the feature while it implements stronger guardrails.
Experts noted that the visual watermarks were not visible to users and could be removed when screenshots were taken, limiting their effectiveness. NYU professor Emily Black said the system makes fabricated images detectable but that "recent research has shown that's not a full solution." She added that policymakers need to work with experts to develop better safeguards.
The misuse included fabricated depictions of a nuclear plant in Iran and imagined refugee scenes near the Mexico-U.S. border, which raised concerns about potential disinformation. Google has not confirmed whether the feature will be reintroduced after additional safeguards are put in place.