Google Earth's AI makes fake satellite photos — and watermarks won't stop misinformation
google earth's nano banana 2 generates realistic satellite imagery from prompts, raising concerns about geopolitical misinformation despite google's synthid watermarking.
google introduced nano banana 2 for google earth, a tool allowing users to generate realistic flyover imagery of historical sites or hypothetical scenarios using the platform's satellite and 3d data. despite google's implementation of synthid watermarks and verification tools via gemini and lens, security researcher henk van es showed the tool can create convincing fake images of sensitive geopolitical events, such as bombardments or border activity. the tool succeeded in fooling at least one major ai detector, raising alarms that photorealistic satellite generation could fuel propaganda or misinformation if watermarking standards fail or users ignore verification steps.