New Google Earth AI tool could fuel misinformation, experts say
BBCGoogle has launched a new AI tool which allows people to create fake images by superimposing almost anything on top of its own widely-used satellite imagery.
The tech giant has integrated its AI image generator Nano Banana 2 into Google Earth, enabling text prompts to generate false scenarios on top of a base layer of real satellite, aerial or 3D imagery - which can then be downloaded and shared on other platforms.
Experts have criticised the tool as a means to spread misinformation with the appearance of Google's legitimacy - and highlighted the potential for bad actors to abuse it.
A collapsed Eiffel Tower, a sinkhole swallowing the Great Pyramid of Giza and Russian tanks in Ukraine's capital were among the images BBC Verify was able to create when testing the feature, which was rolled out on Thursday.
Google has not yet responded to questions based on BBC Verify's tests, but in a social media post yesterday the company said they "take misinformation seriously" and that "we prevent image creation on harmful topics and are continually updating our protections".
AI and misinformation expert Henk van Ess has highlighted the risks this feature poses, creating fake images of a non-existent nuclear power plant in Iran, a refugee camp on the US-Mexico border and a fake hospital in Gaza with a bomb crater next to it.
He said Google was allowing "invented" imagery to be "welded to genuine coordinates, drawn on genuine imagery".
"The forgery does not have to look convincing on its own. It inherits the credibility of the map it was born on," van Ess added.
Google said AI content created by its tools contain invisible watermarks to indicate that they are fake or manipulated, adding that anyone who is "unsure about an image" can check it using the Gemini chatbot app or use the Lens feature in its search.
Generally, BBC Verify's tests have found this is effective with images generated by the new feature. But we have have found it is possible to circumnavigate these checks and trick Gemini into saying these fake Google Earth images are real.
Tests using external AI detection tools also in some cases failed to identify the Google Earth AI-content.
AI-detection researcher Henry Ajdar told BBC Verify the creation of fake imagery in conflict zones could prove particularly "destabilising" when events are fast-moving and information is scarce.
"Journalists might be able to check that image… and report on it. But again, not everyone is going to do that," he added.
Google also insists guidelines built into its AI model will prevent the creation of imagery depicting "harmful topics", however BBC Verify has found that small changes to prompts can be used to bypass these guidelines.
For example, a request to create a "raised platform to hang traitors" next to the UK parliament was rejected. But when a less specific prompt was used, it was accepted and the image was created.
We also asked the tool to mow the word "Trump" into the White House lawn, but it said it could not "create that image" based on its guidelines. It did, however, allow a community garden to be generated in the same spot.
With the constant flood of AI imagery, Ajder said, spaces assumed to be "unblemished by AI are valuable, particularly for journalists and people trying to do work on the frontlines of rapidly evolving crisis scenarios".
"It's concerning because it's another place where sources of trusted information are being eroded by the constant doubt that AI might be involved," he added.
For many, Google Earth is the entry point to openly-accessible satellite imagery and can be used to obtain insights into hard to reach areas.
"This is potentially particularly damaging to public trust because satellite imagery has historically been seen as an especially trustworthy source of data," Bill Greer, a geospatial analyst and co-founder of the non-profit satellite service Common Space, told BBC Verify.
Falsified satellite imagery has already been used to spread misinformation, he added. "Governments are also restricting access to data more and more, so we're likely to see more false images, and fewer real images which will further erode trust."
