Stanford apologizes for using AI to swap student’s race, gender in ad

Stanford University student Billy Ramirez was startled when his friend sent him a photo of him and others holding bowls of noodles that he remembered posing for at a Lunar New Year celebration in a university dining hall.

He had been removed from the photo altogether. In his place was a Black woman Ramirez didn’t recognize, Ramirez told the Stanford Review, a student newspaper, in an interview.

Ramirez’s two classmates, an Asian woman and a white man, remained in the edited version, but they were changed to appear thinner, and their facial features were noticeably distorted. University logos on their sweatshirts were enhanced or added.

The photo, originally taken in 2024 by the university’s housing and dining department and recently featured on promotional banners around campus, garnered sharp criticism for the alterations after circulating on the student social network Fizz and being published in the student paper and other outlets.

Now, Stanford has apologized and said it had taken down the banners.

“We have reviewed the matter and confirmed that AI was used to alter the image in violation of university policy,” Stanford spokesperson Charlene Gage said in an email. “Stanford’s AI policy is clear: The use of AI in producing or altering images of Stanford people, events, research, facilities, or achievements is strictly prohibited. Both the alteration and lack of disclosure in this case violate that policy.”

Gage said the university is “working to provide additional training for all staff and ensure proper review of all materials.”

Controversies around universities editing student images using Photoshop, disproportionately photographing students of color, or otherwise seeking to depict a diverse campus in marketing materials — whether reflective of the student body or not — are not new. But generative AI tools are making it faster and easier for anyone to create false representations.

Betting app Kalshi also drew heat this month for a race-swapping incident in which an online content creator who is Asian accused the company of ripping off one of his videos for an ad and altering his likeness to make him look like a white man.

The students involved in the Stanford incident have said they felt dismay and disappointment. Ramirez, who is Latino, told the Stanford Review that at first he had “found it hilarious,” but after more closely examining the before-and-after photos, he also became upset.

“I don’t agree with Stanford making those choices about how we were represented,” he told the newspaper. “Seeing my identity changed and being left out of the picture made me feel, in a way, silenced and erased from a representation that was supposed to include me.”

Ramirez told the San Francisco Chronicle that school officials have not contacted him or apologized. He told the paper that generating a nonexistent Black student didn’t “reflect reality” and that the school is “not as diverse as they make it out to be.”

Ramirez did not respond to a request for comment from The Times.