Google pulled a new AI image-editing feature from Google Earth less than 24 hours after launch.
The company launched the function on Thursday, allowing Gemini’s Nano Banana 2 image model to access Google Earth and transform locations with text prompts.
The function, however, quickly got out of hand. AI researcher Henk van Ess, for example, created extremely realistic deepfakes, including fake refugee camps along the US-Mexico border and a nuclear plant in Iran.
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
Other users used the tool to create AI images of a nonexistent flood and a 9/11-style attack.
By Friday, Google had reversed course.
“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,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement posted on X. “So we’re rolling back this feature in Google Earth while we work on implementing stronger guardrails.”
Google added that the AI-generated images were watermarked and never appeared in the public Google Earth experience.
Google is not the only company that has lately rolled out AI features only to quickly remove them. Meta launched Muse Image on July 7 with a feature that allowed users to generate AI images using images available on all adult-owned public Instagram accounts that had not changed their settings to opt out. Meta removed the feature in less than a week and said it had “missed the mark.”
