Overview
- Google introduced a text-prompt image‑editing feature that used its Gemini/Nano Banana model to alter Google Earth scenes and then removed the feature after rapid misuse.
- Researchers and journalists quickly generated realistic fake satellite screenshots, showing overturned landmarks, refugee camps, bomb craters, and other fabricated scenes.
- Google confirmed generated images carried SynthID provenance markers and were not placed in public layers but said people shared screenshots that hid or removed those safeguards.
- The company disabled the tool within about 24 hours and told reporters it will build a revised version with stronger technical controls and access limits.
- Experts and civil‑society groups warn this episode deepens risks to the trustworthiness of satellite imagery used by reporters and investigators and call for durable provenance, server‑side restrictions, and policy safeguards before any relaunch.