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‘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 banners with the AI-edited images.
“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,” Gage said.
“Both the alteration and lack of disclosure in this case violate that policy. We are working to provide additional training for all staff and ensure proper review of all materials,” she said.
The campus newspaper, The Stanford Review, first published the side-by-side images Monday.
In addition to changing Billy Ramirez’s gender and race, the school also made the two other students in the photo appear thinner.
“I was driving to school from my hometown when my friend sent me the images comparing the banner to the original photos, and I was immediately baffled,” Ramirez told The Stanford Review.
He said that he initially thought the altered image was funny, but upon further reflection, he became upset, saying he doesn’t “agree with Stanford making those choices about how we were represented.”
“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,” he said.
The images went viral on X, prompting concern from thousands of users.
Tyler Harper, a staff writer for The Atlantic, wrote, “What better distillation of higher education in the 2020s than a bureaucrat using AI to fake-diversify an elite campus.”
“A half decade of history condensed into a single, perfect image,” Harper wrote.
In addition, Stu Smith, an investigative analyst with the Manhattan Institute, noted that the university even edited the students to be wearing Stanford gear.
“I love how, even after the insane choice to make artificial students for the sake of diversity, marketing still couldn’t resist going one step further and outfitting everyone in Stanford gear,” he wrote on X.
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