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A text prompt was all it took to generate reality-warping images using Google Earth\u2019s satellite, aerial, and 3D imagery with a now-rolled back AI feature, like these images generated by Digital Digging<\/em>\u2019s<\/em> Henk van Ess that show \u201crefugees near the Mexican border\u201d and a bomb crater near a hospital in Gaza.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Google initially responded to Digital Digging<\/em>\u2019s AI-altered images, saying, \u201cWe take misinformation seriously \u2013 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.\u201d In addition to using Google\u2019s \u201c@verifyai\u201d tag in Gemini to check suspicious images, van Ess suggests comparing them to other satellite platforms, like Sentinel-2 or Landsat, and even verifying orbital data like when it says the image was taken and by which satellite.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The feature launched globally on the web version of Google Earth earlier this week, and Google\u2019s blog post pitched it as a tool for visualizing historical sites and real estate projects. Some images generated with it were easy to spot as fakes, like one showing the Sphinx crossed with the Statue of Liberty, but I can see how the Nano Banana 2 feature could have created images believable enough to spread misinformation. And while Google\u2019s watermark may be difficult to remove, it\u2019s not impossible to miss or bypass \u2013 Digital Digging<\/em> was able to fool Hive\u2019s AI detector with an AI-altered video from Google Earth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n