Google has introduced a new feature on Google Earth that allows users to generate AI-enhanced images using satellite, aerial, and 3D mapping data. The tool, launched on July 30, 2026, leverages Google's Nano Banana 2 image-generation technology to create visualisations within seconds.

While Google promotes the feature as a way to "visualise history" and assist in real estate planning, digital investigations experts and open-source intelligence analysts warn it could be exploited to produce convincing fake satellite images. Such misuse threatens the integrity of Google Earth, a widely trusted resource for fact-checking and verification.

Expert Concerns on Disinformation

  • Henk Van Ess, a digital investigations expert, cautions that the tool enables fabrications that inherit the credibility of the original maps, potentially misleading users.
  • Brady Africk, a satellite imagery analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, highlights that the ease of creating realistic fakes could erode public trust and complicate journalistic and research efforts.
  • Ross Burley, executive director of the Centre for Information Resilience, labels the move "irresponsible," warning it could damage decades of trust in satellite imagery.

Evidence of Potential for Misuse

Tests by AFP demonstrated the tool’s ability to fabricate images depicting sensitive scenarios, including explosions in Paris, nuclear facilities in Iran, bomb craters in Russia, and terrorist training camps in Syria. Other fabricated visuals included floods in Bangladesh and migrant caravans at the US-Mexico border.

Groups monitoring misinformation, such as GeoConfirmed, report that some users have already begun manipulating the tool to falsify military positions and mislabel buildings, raising alarms about its impact on global information integrity.

Google’s Response

Google stated that images generated with the new tool carry invisible SynthID digital watermarks to help identify AI-created content. The company also enforces policies to restrict image creation on harmful topics and discourages misinformation.

Despite these measures, experts urge Google to reconsider the feature, citing the high risks associated with the spread of AI-generated disinformation.