TECH NEWS

Here’s the problem with putting an AI image generator in Google Earth

Stevie Bonifield is a news writer covering all things consumer tech. Stevie started out at Laptop Mag writing news and reviews on hardware, gaming, and AI.

Now a text prompt is all it takes to generate reality-warping images using Google Earth’s satellite, aerial, and 3D imagery, like these images generated by Digital Digging’s Henk van Ess that show “refugees near the Mexican border” and a bomb crater near a hospital in Gaza.

Google responded to Digital Digging’s AI-altered images, saying, “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.” In addition to using Google’s “@verifyai” tag in Gemini to check suspicious images, van Ess suggests comparing them to other satellite platforms, like ...

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Amazon is splitting its $600 million tariff refund with customers - here's who's eligible

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways * Amazon has received $600 million in tariff refunds. * It will be passing those refunds directly to customers. * Refunds will be automatic, so you don't need to do anything. Amazon is getting a $600

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The ban on robot vacuums won’t make them safer, only worse

No other gadget knows as much about your home as a robot vacuum. They map your space, learn your routines, and many now carry a camera and microphone into every room in your house. As AI gives them a better understanding of what they see, the privacy and security risks

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Anthropic and OpenAI are competing to see whose agents can go rogue harder

Whoever wins, we lose One company's inventive campaign for an unreleased product has become a contest between Anthropic and OpenAI to see which can shout the loudest about its own failures. Readers who tuned in earlier today saw the latest episode in the drama – or sitcom – as Anthropic

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US bank places trust in ransomware crew that promised to delete its data

History suggests this was not wise Would you trust a ransomware extortionist to delete the data they stole? One bank certainly wants you to. Well over a month into a ransomware cleanup job, River Financial Corporation tells regulators that it “took steps to attempt to suppress the affected data, including

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Amazon is splitting its $600 million tariff refund with customers - here's who's eligible

The ban on robot vacuums won’t make them safer, only worse

Anthropic and OpenAI are competing to see whose agents can go rogue harder

US bank places trust in ransomware crew that promised to delete its data