Stanford Residential & Dining Enterprises used artificial intelligence to change the race and gender of students featured in promotional images, while also digitally slimming some of their faces.
The Stanford Review, a student-run newspaper, obtained the original and edited photographs. In one comparison, students are shown holding plates of food inside a dining hall before AI alterations were made. One student pictured in the untouched image said he was shocked to discover that the final advertisement replaced him with a Black woman.
Billy Ramirez, a Stanford junior, told the outlet that he first learned about the changes while driving to campus from his hometown. A friend sent him side-by-side images comparing the banner with the original photographs, leaving him “immediately baffled.”
“At first, I found it hilarious that they had used AI to completely change our appearances, including my race and gender,” Ramirez said. “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.”
He added that seeing his identity altered—and realizing he had been removed from the final image—made him feel “silenced and erased” from a portrayal that was meant to represent him.
The two other students shown alongside Ramirez were also digitally modified. In the finished image, their faces appear noticeably slimmer than they do in the original photograph.
Stanford Residential & Dining Enterprises manages housing and residential dining operations for the Bay Area university’s more than 18,000 students.
