Stanford University is facing criticism after its Residential & Dining Enterprises used generative artificial intelligence to alter the appearances of three students, including replacing one student, Billy Ramirez, who is Hispanic, with an AI-generated Black woman.
The altered photo appeared on a promotional banner and was originally taken at a 2024 Lunar New Year celebration hosted by Stanford R&DE.
Charlene Gage, a spokesperson for the university, apologized for the situation in a statement.
“The use of AI in producing or altering images of Stanford people, events, research, facilities, or achievements is strictly prohibited,” Gage wrote. “Both the alteration and lack of disclosure in this case violate that policy.”
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the image replaced Ramirez with what the newspaper described as a “nonexistent Black woman.”
Ramirez spoke to The Stanford Review, the university’s independent media outlet, about the situation.
“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. 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.”
Evan Kim, a sophomore economics major at Stanford, spoke with Annenberg Media about the incident.
“I feel like what stood out the most was just that there’s a lack of alignment on the use of AI, because let me tell you, every single professor tells us a different thing about how to use it,” Kim said. “Why does that even happen, especially within our residential and dining enterprise? It almost seems like that’s the last place where something controversial would come from because they’re like the backbone of our university.”
Kim said the incident raised questions for him about Stanford’s messaging on AI and diversity. He said he wondered whether Stanford’s messaging around diversity could have influenced the decision to alter a student’s race using AI.
“In my opinion, I feel like it was one employee who made a bad decision, maybe because of certain messaging from the administration that was misinterpreted, but I do think it’s definitely more of an isolated event,” Kim said.
USC students also expressed concerns about Stanford’s actions.
For USC public relations and advertising sophomore Esther Dzinedza, seeing a university like Stanford alter students’ appearances was disappointing. Dzinedza, who is Black, has experience attending a predominantly white institution.
“My initial reaction was: Of course they would choose a Black girl,” Dzinedza said. “I would say, obviously being by nature [a predominantly white institution], [Stanford doesn’t] have as much [diversity] as they probably want, but they have it there if they would go out and seek it.”
Dzinedza said she does not believe USC would go to those lengths to portray a more diverse student population and would instead photograph students from diverse backgrounds.
Mia Deck, a sophomore English major at USC, said she was shocked by Stanford’s use of AI to alter the students’ appearances.
“I just thought it was just insane. That should not be happening,” Deck said. “AI is being used wrongly. It’s like they’re fully taking away who they are as a person.”
Deck said AI should not be used to represent university students.
“You’re displaying who your student population is, and when you’re wrongly displaying them by changing how they look or any aspect about them, it’s just wrong,” Deck said.
As of Sept. 28, 2026, USC’s Artificial Intelligence General Policy does not specifically address AI-generated images.
Edited by Natalie Cerna and Zayane El Solh