Google briefly launched an AI image generation feature within Google Earth that allowed users to create modified versions of real satellite imagery, but quickly reversed the decision after researchers demonstrated its significant potential for creating misinformation. Critics, including Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins and independent investigator Henk van Ess, showed how the tool could easily produce false images of events such as military strikes, refugee gatherings, or nuclear facilities overlaid on authentic Google Earth imagery. Google pulled the feature within a day, citing policy violations, though it suggested the tool could return once stronger safeguards are in place.
