Google Earth's AI Image Editing Feature Taken Down After Misuse

Google added an AI image editing feature to Google Earth, but it was taken down within 24 hours. The feature used the Nano Banana 2 image model from Gemini, letting users modify location images with text commands. It was soon misused. AI researcher Henk van Es created realistic fake satellite images, including a refugee camp at the US-Mexico border and a nuclear plant in Iran. A Google spokesperson said on X that some generated content seemed to violate their policies, so they removed the feature. They stressed that all AI-generated images have watermarks and were not added to public map content. This isn't the first time. Meta launched Muse Image in early July, letting users generate AI images from public Instagram photos, but it was removed within a week because it "crossed the line."