Google Earth launched an AI feature called "Nano Banana" that generated realistic satellite, aerial, and 3D imagery from text prompts. Researchers at Digital Digging, including Henk van Ess, demonstrated the tool's misuse potential by creating fake images showing "refugees near the Mexican border" and a bomb crater near a hospital in Gaza.
Google responded with watermarking technology (SynthID) and verification tools like the "@verifyai" tag in Gemini and Lens in Search to help identify AI-generated images. Van Ess also suggested cross-referencing suspicious images with other satellite platforms like Sentinel-2 or Landsat, and checking orbital data timestamps.
While some generated images were obviously fake, such as the Sphinx crossed with the Statue of Liberty, Google acknowledged the feature "could have created images believable enough to spread misinformation." Digital Digging was able to fool Hive's AI detector with an AI-altered video from Google Earth, showing watermarks aren't foolproof. UPDATE: After publication, Google announced it's rolling back the feature.