Stanford Acknowledges AI-Edited Dining Photo Violated University Policy
Stanford said the edits violated its AI policy, and the university is adding staff training after removing the banners.
- Stanford University acknowledged Tuesday that artificial intelligence was used to alter a photograph of three students for promotional materials, replacing a white male student with a Black woman and making two other students appear thinner.
- The controversy erupted Monday after The Stanford Review, an independent student publication, reported that Stanford Residential & Dining Enterprises had used AI to alter the photo; Billy Ramirez discovered the alteration when a friend sent him a side-by-side comparison while driving back to campus.
- Ramirez initially found the alteration "hilarious that they changed his race and gender," but upon reflection felt "silenced and erased" from a portrayal meant to represent him, noting that AI tools like Claude have grown in use over his four years at Stanford.
- Stanford removed the promotional banners and committed to working with Residential and Dining Enterprises to provide additional training; the comparison images spread rapidly across Fizz, X, Instagram and TikTok after Ramirez posted them online.
- The incident emerges amid significant shifts in Stanford's racial enrollment following the Supreme Court's 2023 affirmative action ruling, with Black student enrollment falling from 8.9% to 4.5%, while the altered banner echoes a 26-year-old Onion satire titled 'Black Guy Photoshopped In.
58 Articles
58 Articles
Stanford violated its AI policy by changing Hispanic man into black woman in promo banner
‘Alteration and lack of disclosure’ violated school policy, official says Stanford University was caught using AI to alter students’ appearances in promotional materials, including digitally transforming one male student into a black female this week. University spokesperson Charlene Gage told Inside Higher Ed that the school violated its own AI policy and has removed the […]
Stanford Receives Backlash For Replacing Latino Student In Photo With AI-Generated Black Student
Stanford University acknowledged that a photo featured on a banner in its dining hall had been altered using AI to replace a Latino student with a Black woman who may have been AI-generated, while two other students appeared air-brushed.
Stanford under fire for using AI to replace Latino man with a black female in promotional photo
Stanford is drawing national attention — and ridicule — after they were caught swapping in a black female student for an Hispanic male student in advertising and banners on campus. The story appeared in the New York Times, People.com, the New York Post and on CNN, NBC, NPR and Fox News, among others. The altered photo first came to light in The Stanford Review, a conservative publication on campus cofounded by Peter Thiel. The original image sho…
Palo Alto Online
Stanford admits to using AI to transform man into woman in campus ad
Stanford University takes pride in being on the cutting edge of artificial intelligence, but the university has been facing unwanted scrutiny this week after a Stanford advertisement relied on AI to transform a man into a woman, in violation of its own policies.
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