Google Earth risked ruin with retracted AI tool for making fake satellite pics
Google Earth risked ruin with retracted AI tool for making fake satellite pics
Google Earth 因撤回可制作虚假卫星图像的 AI 工具而面临信誉危机
Google briefly allowed anyone to create AI-modified versions of satellite imagery available in Google Earth—before quickly reversing its decision as people shared examples of AI-generated pictures that illustrated the potential for misinformation and disinformation. 谷歌曾短暂允许任何人创建 Google Earth 中卫星图像的 AI 修改版本，但在人们分享了展示其可能被用于制造虚假信息和误导性内容的 AI 生成图片示例后，谷歌迅速撤回了这一决定。
There is no shortage of generative AI tools that already allow people to create AI-modified images of real buildings and cities based on user prompts. But Google’s aborted attempt to incorporate its Nano Banana 2 AI image generator as a Google Earth feature made it even easier for anyone to create modified versions of authentic imagery depicting real locations—something that Google boasted about when initially promoting the new feature. 目前市面上不乏生成式 AI 工具，允许用户根据提示词创建真实建筑和城市的 AI 修改图像。但谷歌试图将 Nano Banana 2 AI 图像生成器整合为 Google Earth 功能的尝试，使得任何人都能更轻易地创建描绘真实地点的伪造图像——这正是谷歌在最初推广该功能时所吹捧的卖点。
“For the first time, you can generate custom images using Google Earth’s satellite, aerial, and 3D imagery alongside Nano Banana, which creates concepts grounded in the real world,” wrote Bryan Horowitz, product manager for Google Earth, in a company blog post on July 30. “这是第一次，你可以结合 Google Earth 的卫星、航拍和 3D 图像，利用 Nano Banana 生成基于现实世界的定制化概念图像，”Google Earth 产品经理 Bryan Horowitz 在 7 月 30 日的公司博客文章中写道。
That possibility deeply alarmed researchers, who often use Google Earth to help verify images and videos of locations at a time when AI-generated misinformation and disinformation have become rampant online. They showed how the new feature could simplify the process of creating false scenarios overlaid on Google Earth’s photorealistic imagery. 这种可能性引起了研究人员的深切担忧。在 AI 生成的虚假信息和误导性内容在网上泛滥的当下，研究人员经常使用 Google Earth 来帮助核实地点相关的图片和视频。他们指出，这项新功能可能会简化在 Google Earth 的照片级真实图像上叠加虚假场景的过程。
“Google Earth, a tool often used as a source of satellite imagery to verify photos and videos, has added a feature that allows you to alter satellite imagery with AI, for reasons,” wrote Eliot Higgins, founder of the independent investigative organization Bellingcat, in a Bluesky post responding to the AI feature’s debut. “No way this could be abused,” Higgins added sarcastically in a follow-up post that featured an AI-modified image made in Google Earth showing a giant golden statue of President Donald Trump looming over the White House. “Google Earth 作为一个常用于核实照片和视频的卫星图像来源工具，竟然添加了一个允许用 AI 修改卫星图像的功能，真不知道是为了什么，”独立调查机构 Bellingcat 的创始人 Eliot Higgins 在回应此 AI 功能上线的 Bluesky 帖子中写道。“这绝对不可能被滥用，”Higgins 在随后的帖子中讽刺地补充道，并附上了一张在 Google Earth 中生成的 AI 修改图片，图中显示一座巨大的唐纳德·特朗普总统金像耸立在白宫之上。
Within a day, Google announced on the social media platform X that it was rolling back the feature. Shortly afterward, Ars checked and found that the feature was inaccessible to Google Earth users. 不到一天时间，谷歌就在社交媒体平台 X 上宣布将撤回该功能。随后，Ars 经核实发现，Google Earth 用户已无法使用该功能。
Before removing the AI feature, Google had touted its potential to allow Google Earth users to depict completed real estate projects or enable teachers and students to transform the modern-day ruins of Pompeii into a “hyper-realistic view” of what the town looked like in 78 CE under the Roman Empire. But independent researchers immediately gravitated toward the potential for misuse. 在移除该 AI 功能之前，谷歌曾吹捧其潜力，称其能让 Google Earth 用户描绘已完工的房地产项目，或让师生将庞贝古城的现代遗迹转化为公元 78 年罗马帝国时期该城镇的“超写实景观”。但独立研究人员立即关注到了其被滥用的可能性。
“Tonight I typed just one sentence into Google Earth and put refugees near the Mexican border,” wrote Henk van Ess, an independent investigator, in an extensive blog post detailing his concerns on July 30. “Then I planted a nuclear plant in Iran. Then I put a fatal crash on a street in Amsterdam. Google’s own satellite imagery underneath all three. What on earth is Google doing?” “今晚，我在 Google Earth 里只输入了一句话，就把难民放到了墨西哥边境附近，”独立调查员 Henk van Ess 在 7 月 30 日的一篇详细阐述其担忧的长篇博客文章中写道。“然后我在伊朗安放了一座核电站。接着，我在阿姆斯特丹的一条街道上制造了一起致命车祸。这三张图的底层都是谷歌自己的卫星图像。谷歌到底在搞什么？”
Checking for misinformation / 针对虚假信息的核查
Ess pointed to a previous example of AI-generated misinformation gone viral that used a Google Earth satellite photo of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama, Bahrain. A forger had prompted Google’s Gemini AI assistant to transform a screenshot of that Google Earth image into a false image depicting the aftermath of an Iranian drone strike on the US military base. The same process that might have taken about six steps could be done “in seconds” with the AI tool built into Google Earth, Ess said. Ess 指出了此前一个广为流传的 AI 生成虚假信息的案例，该案例使用了美国海军第五舰队位于巴林麦纳麦总部的 Google Earth 卫星照片。造假者曾诱导谷歌的 Gemini AI 助手将该 Google Earth 图像的截图转化为一张虚假图片，描绘伊朗无人机袭击美军基地的后果。Ess 表示，原本可能需要大约六个步骤才能完成的过程，使用 Google Earth 内置的 AI 工具只需“几秒钟”即可完成。
Before eventually removing the Google Earth feature, Google initially responded to Ess by highlighting its SynthID system that automatically embeds digital watermarks in images generated by Google’s AI tools. “We take misinformation seriously—every image created with Nano Banana in Google Earth includes the SynthID digital watermark, so if someone is unsure about an image, they can ask the Gemini app or use Lens in Search to see if the image was AI-generated,” according to Google’s post on X on July 30. “In addition, we prevent image creation on harmful topics and are continually updating our protections.” 在最终移除该功能前，谷歌最初回应 Ess 时强调了其 SynthID 系统，该系统会自动在谷歌 AI 工具生成的图像中嵌入数字水印。谷歌在 7 月 30 日的 X 帖子中称：“我们非常重视虚假信息——在 Google Earth 中使用 Nano Banana 创建的每张图像都包含 SynthID 数字水印，因此如果有人对某张图像不确定，可以询问 Gemini 应用或使用搜索中的 Lens 功能来查看该图像是否由 AI 生成。此外，我们禁止在有害主题上创建图像，并不断更新我们的保护措施。”
Previous Ars testing of Google’s SynthID system has shown that Google’s digital watermark can persist despite substantial image edits and data loss. However, Ars also encountered the issue of SynthID limiting image checks to about 10 per day. When Ars prompted Google’s Gemini app to run a SynthID check on several AI-modified images generated within Google Earth—before Google removed the Google Earth feature—Gemini responded that it had “detected digital watermarking indicating that part or all of this image was generated or edited using Google AI tools.” Ars 此前对谷歌 SynthID 系统的测试表明，即使经过大量的图像编辑和数据丢失，谷歌的数字水印依然可以保留。然而，Ars 也遇到了 SynthID 每天限制约 10 次图像检查的问题。当 Ars 在谷歌移除该功能前，要求 Gemini 应用对几张在 Google Earth 中生成的 AI 修改图像进行 SynthID 检查时，Gemini 回应称已“检测到数字水印，表明该图像的部分或全部内容是使用谷歌 AI 工具生成或编辑的。”
But Ess questioned why Google’s policy on preventing the creation of AI-generated images on harmful topics had not stopped him from depicting scenes such as a hospital with a bomb crater in Gaza. He also expressed skepticism about primarily relying on Google’s SynthID watermarking system and Google’s AI tools for verifying whether an image is AI-generated. “Fakes do not travel as clean files with their credentials intact,” Ess wrote. “They travel as screen recordings, re-encodes, screenshots of screenshots, filmed off somebody’s phone in a hurry.” 但 Ess 质疑，为什么谷歌关于防止在有害主题上创建 AI 图像的政策，没能阻止他描绘出诸如加沙地带带有弹坑的医院等场景。他还对主要依赖谷歌的 SynthID 水印系统和谷歌 AI 工具来核实图像是否由 AI 生成表示怀疑。“伪造品在传播时不会以带有完整凭证的干净文件形式出现，”Ess 写道。“它们通常以屏幕录像、重新编码、截图的截图，或是匆忙用手机拍摄的形式传播。”
Indeed, Google’s SynthID was unable to provide any image verification when Ars used a smartphone camera to take a photo of an AI-altered image made using the Google Earth feature. 事实上，当 Ars 使用智能手机摄像头拍摄一张由 Google Earth 功能制作的 AI 修改图像时，谷歌的 SynthID 无法提供任何图像核实结果。
Undermining trust / 破坏信任
By introducing an AI image generator as a Google Earth feature, Google risked undermining public trust in Google Earth as a reliable reference for providing authentic imagery of the real world, Ess said. It could have also handed an additional excuse to government officials or anyone who wants to deny genuine satellite photos by claiming they were modified or generated entirely by AI tools. Giving anyone access to an easy tool to create AI-modified satellite imagery could have also made it even harder for journalists and researchers checking misin Ess 表示，通过将 AI 图像生成器作为 Google Earth 的一项功能引入，谷歌冒着破坏公众对 Google Earth 作为提供真实世界可靠参考图像工具的信任的风险。这还可能为政府官员或任何想要否认真实卫星照片的人提供额外的借口，声称这些照片是被修改过的，或者是完全由 AI 工具生成的。让任何人都能使用简单的工具来创建 AI 修改后的卫星图像，也可能使记者和研究人员核实虚假信息变得更加困难。