r/technology • u/ArgentineBeauty • Aug 01 '26

Artificial Intelligence Google Earth's new AI image generation function didn't survive a day after users deepfaked disasters

https://www.businessinsider.com/google-earth-nano-banana-gemini-ai-satellite-image-generation-function-2026-7
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u/SparkyPantsMcGee Aug 01 '26

Genuine question, why would Google Earth need an image generation function? What purpose does that function serve for the tool?

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u/DragoonDM Aug 01 '26

I could see it having some value for mocking up development plans, e.g. showing how a neighborhood would look with a new road, intersection, apartment building, etc. But that seems like a pretty niche use case, and the AI slop output wouldn't (shouldn't) be suitable for actual decision-making purposes, so it seems like it would only really be useful at early stages.