Stanford uses AI to alter students’ appearance in its ads — swapping one student’s race and gender, slimming down others

The altered photo depicts a Black woman who replaced Stanford student Billy Ramirez, who stood furthest to the right. The other two students received a digital makeover and were given trimmer physiques in the final image.

‘Silenced and erased’

Ramirez recounted learning about the altered image after a friend sent it to him. He said he felt “immediately baffled.”

“At first, I found it hilarious that they had used AI to completely change our appearances, including my race and gender. But after looking at the comparison, I was also upset because I don’t agree with Stanford making those choices about how we were represented,” Ramirez told the Review. “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.”

A university spokesperson said Stanford had reviewed the issue and confirmed that AI was employed to modify the campus dining image “in violation of university policy.”

“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,” Stanford University public relations director Charlene Gage told Moneywise via email. “Both the alteration and lack of disclosure in this case violate that policy.”

Gage continued: “We are working with Residential and Dining Enterprises to provide additional training and ensure proper review of all materials.”

For the fall 2025 semester, Stanford reported that about 31% of its 7,300 undergraduate students were Asian. About 24% of all Stanford undergraduates were white, followed by Hispanic/Latino students at 16%. Black students made up 6% of the undergraduate student body.

AI use in ads

The instance of AI-generated imagery to highlight campus diversity evokes an earlier episode from September 2000 when the University of Wisconsin-Madison digitally inserted a Black student named Diallo Shabazz into a crowd of white college football fans. The digitally altered image was then used as the cover of the university’s undergraduate application booklet.