Google Earth turned off the AI image generator a day after its launch

The developers of the Google Earth service decided to temporarily disable the feature that allowed users to transform satellite images using artificial intelligence (AI), within 24 hours of its launch. This was announced by Google's press service on July 31.

"We've seen geospatial experts using this feature for various useful purposes, but we've also seen people sharing screenshots of generated images that appear to violate our rules. Therefore, we are rolling back this feature to Google Earth while we work on implementing stricter restrictions," said a statement on the social network X (ex. Twitter).

The staff indicated that all images that did not comply with the rules were not included in the main materials of the service itself. The images that make the feature unavailable now, as Google has noticed, can be recognized by labeling - they have a watermark stating that the content was created using AI.

The Washington Post clarified on the same day that the decision to suspend the generator was made after people began using it to plan terrorist attacks and riots. So, they created images of the Washington Monument allegedly destroyed by a bomb, tanks on the California Bridge and protests in Mexico City.

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International relations will never be the same.

On May 7, the website of the European Parliament banned the use of AI applications to create deepfakes of a sexual nature without human consent. The project, as it was emphasized, was agreed upon by all the countries of the European Union. Since then, all companies have had time to adapt their services to the new requirements until December 2, 2026.