{"id":19128,"date":"2026-07-31T23:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=19128"},"modified":"2026-07-31T23:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:45:07","slug":"google-rolls-back-new-satellite-image-ai-tool-after-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=19128","title":{"rendered":"Google rolls back new satellite image AI tool after backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 300px 160px; gap: 2px; width: 460px; background: #eee; padding: 2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u6574\u884c\u5bbd\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876674\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 90px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876676\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u5de6\u4fa7\u7ad6\u6392 -->\r\n  <div style=\"height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876672\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"height: 500px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876680\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u6469\u5929\u697c\uff08\u548c\u5de6\u4fa7\u5b8c\u5168\u5bf9\u9f50\uff09 -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row: 3\/5; height: 750px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876678\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  \r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e6\" data-zoneid=\"5876682\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-right:0;padding-left:0\">\n<p>Google rolled back Friday a new feature allowing Google Earth users to generate AI visualizations on top of the service\u2019s satellite imagery, following a furious backlash from researchers and open-source intelligence experts about the potential for disinformation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve seen geospatial professionals using this feature for a range of useful purposes, however we\u2019ve also seen people sharing screenshots of generated imagery that appear to violate our policies,\u201d a Google spokesperson said in a statement to AFP. \u201cSo we\u2019re rolling back this feature in Google Earth while we work on implementing stronger guardrails.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that people uniquely trust Google Earth for a reliable view of the world,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201ccreate image\u201d tool, unveiled Thursday, had integrated Google\u2019s Nano Banana 2 image-generation technology into Google Earth, letting users zoom into locations and build pictures in seconds based on the program\u2019s satellite, aerial and 3D-mapping data.<\/p>\n<p>Google had described it as a way to \u201cvisualize history, create real estate plans and more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But disinformation researchers warned that it could enable bad actors to misuse Google Earth \u2014 a key resource for fact-checking and verification \u2014 to create realistic geospatial fakes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGoogle spent 20 years building the reference the world checks against,\u201d digital investigations expert Henk Van Ess wrote in one widely shared post on Substack. \u201cToday it added a button that makes things up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brady Africk, a research analyst at the American Enterprise Institute specializing in satellite imagery analysis, told AFP the Google Earth update would have made it \u201ceasier to generate convincing fake satellite imagery that can spread quickly online and mislead the public.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Such fakes \u201cerode public trust in satellite imagery, and make the jobs of journalists and researchers more difficult,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u2018Irrevocably\u00a0damaged overnight\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n<p>As the critiques piled up, Google had said on X that the images created with the feature included SynthID digital watermarks, invisible markers embedded in media generated using the company\u2019s artificial intelligence tools.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe take misinformation seriously,\u201d the company wrote, linking to an AI policy that instructs users against \u201cmisinformation, misrepresentation or misleading activities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>AFP\u2019s tests of the feature on Friday were able to fabricate satellite images that could have had serious global consequences: an explosion in Paris, a nuclear site in Iran, a bomb crater in Russia and an Islamic State group training ground in Syria.<\/p>\n<p>The tool also fulfilled prompts to visualize other fake scenes, including floods across Bangladesh, a migrant caravan camped at the US-Mexico border and a suspicious warehouse holding vans in Georgia \u2014 one of several states US President Donald Trump has falsely accused of widespread election fraud.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201ccreate image\u201d button no longer appeared within Google Earth after Google paused its use.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Similar fakes have previously had real-world impacts. In 2023, an AI image depicting an explosion at the Pentagon briefly rattled the markets.<\/p>\n<p>Early in the US war with Iran, an AI-altered satellite image depicting a destroyed US military base garnered millions of views across platforms.<\/p>\n<p>Among the groups that called for Google to reverse its decision was the London-based Centre for Information Resilience, whose executive director Ross Burley told AFP the feature was \u201cirresponsible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrust in satellite imagery has taken decades to build and could be irrevocably\u00a0damaged overnight,\u201d Burley said.<\/p>\n<p>GeoConfirmed, a volunteer-driven open-source intelligence project that verifies visuals from conflicts around the globe, had also urged Google to reconsider.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are already observing individuals exploiting the new Google Earth web tool to make military positions, relabel buildings as schools, and experiment with manipulating the information environment,\u201d the group wrote on X, before Google announced it was rolling back the feature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe primary, and perhaps only, practical use of this tool appears to be the creation and dissemination of mis- and disinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- \u603b\u5bb9\u5668\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u5bbd908px Grid\u7d27\u51d1\u5e03\u5c40 -->\r\n<div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 728px 160px; gap:2px; width:908px; background:#eee; padding:2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u901a\u680f\u9876\u90e8\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u6a2a\u5e45 908x258 \u8de8\u6574\u884c -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column:1\/-1; height:258px; background:#ff6b6b; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n    <!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114307\" data-width=\"908\" data-height=\"258\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114307});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u7b2c\u4e8c\u901a\u680f\uff1a728\u00d790 \u901a\u680f -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column:1\/-1; height:90px; background:#4ecdc4; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n    <!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114300\" data-width=\"728\" data-height=\"90\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114300});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u5de6\u4fa7\u4e3b\u680f\uff1a\u591a\u5e7f\u544a\u5806\u53e0 -->\r\n  <div style=\"display:grid; gap:2px;\">\r\n    <div style=\"height:60px; background:#45b7d1; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114308\" data-width=\"468\" data-height=\"60\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114308});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n    <div style=\"height:250px; background:#ffe066; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114299\" data-width=\"300\" data-height=\"250\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114299});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n    <div style=\"height:250px; background:#ff9ecd; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114305\" data-width=\"250\" data-height=\"250\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114305});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n    <div style=\"height:139px; background:#c792ea; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114302\" data-width=\"133\" data-height=\"139\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114302});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n    <div style=\"height:125px; background:#91e7ac; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t\r\n<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114303\" data-width=\"125\" data-height=\"125\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114303});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u7ad6\u680f\uff1a160\u00d7600 \u6574\u5217\u9ad8\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row:3\/8; height:600px;  display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n    <!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114301\" data-width=\"160\" data-height=\"600\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114301});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<br \/> Google rolls back new satellite image AI tool after backlash<br \/>\n<br \/>#Google #rolls #satellite #image #tool #backlash<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google rolled back Friday a new feature allowing Google Earth users to generate AI visualizations&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[365,2381,480,3570,2369,3642],"class_list":["post-19128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-backlash","tag-google","tag-image","tag-rolls","tag-satellite","tag-tool"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d250479ab480b9b7026109b5ea35d83bc8dabb9a.jpg",768,521,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d250479ab480b9b7026109b5ea35d83bc8dabb9a-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d250479ab480b9b7026109b5ea35d83bc8dabb9a-300x204.jpg",300,204,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d250479ab480b9b7026109b5ea35d83bc8dabb9a.jpg",640,434,false],"large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d250479ab480b9b7026109b5ea35d83bc8dabb9a.jpg",640,434,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d250479ab480b9b7026109b5ea35d83bc8dabb9a.jpg",768,521,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d250479ab480b9b7026109b5ea35d83bc8dabb9a.jpg",768,521,false],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d250479ab480b9b7026109b5ea35d83bc8dabb9a.jpg",768,521,false],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d250479ab480b9b7026109b5ea35d83bc8dabb9a-768x500.jpg",768,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d250479ab480b9b7026109b5ea35d83bc8dabb9a.jpg",768,521,false],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d250479ab480b9b7026109b5ea35d83bc8dabb9a-540x340.jpg",540,340,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d250479ab480b9b7026109b5ea35d83bc8dabb9a-400x250.jpg",400,250,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?cat=7\" rel=\"category\">Stories<\/a>","tag_info":"Stories","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}