Alphabet rolls back AI image generation in Google Earth over policy violations

The tool had come under criticism for its potential for misinformation as it allowed users to create fake scenarios on top of real imagery of monuments and landmarks.

 

“We’ve seen geospatial professionals using this feature for a range of useful purposes, however we’ve also seen people sharing screenshots of generated imagery that appear to violate our policies,” Google said on X, ‌adding ⁠that it was pausing the capability while it works on stronger guardrails.

 

Google did not specify what types of images violated its policies. It said the images did not appear in the main Google Earth experience and ⁠were watermarked as AI generated.