Stanford apologized and removed campus banners after its housing and dining department used AI to alter a 2024 Lunar New Year photo, which Stanford said breached university policy. Latino student Billy Ramirez was replaced by a Black woman he did not recognize.
The two classmates left in the image—an Asian woman and a white man—appeared thinner, with distorted facial features; university logos on their sweatshirts were enhanced or added. Stanford said its policy bars using AI to produce or alter images of Stanford people, events, research, facilities or achievements, and that both altering the photo and failing to disclose it violated the policy. It is working on additional staff training and review of materials.
Ramirez told the Stanford Review that closer examination of the before-and-after photos upset him; he said being changed and excluded made him feel “silenced and erased.” Although Stanford issued a public apology, he told the San Francisco Chronicle that school officials had not contacted him or apologized to him, and said the replacement did not reflect reality.
