Stanford AI-Edits Photo to Change Student’s Race and Gender

Stanford University violated its own policies after using AI to swap out a Hispanic male student with a Black female student in a school photograph.

Billy Ramirez, the student who was replaced in the photo, spoke to the independent student newspaper, The Stanford Review, which broke the story.

Ramirez says he was “immediately baffled” when he first saw the AI-edited image.

“At first, I found it hilarious that they had used AI to completely change our appearances, including my race and gender,” he tells the student paper.

“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.”

Not only was Ramirez totally erased from the pictures, but the two people he’s standing with are noticeably thinner.

The image was taken by a Stanford photographer at a Lunar New Year party in 2025. The happy trio is seen holding plates of noodles.

The AI version of the photo was recently posted by Stanford Residential and Dining Enterprises, a body that manages student housing and hospitality. Ramirez says that Stanford had not been in touch about the photo.

“I’m just a little surprised that a photo from years ago resurfaced,” he tells The New York Times.

In a statement, Stanford acknowledged the use of artificial intelligence software.

“Stanford’s A.I. policy is clear: The use of A.I. in producing or altering images of Stanford people, events, research, facilities or achievements is strictly prohibited,” the prestigious university says.

“Both the alteration and lack of disclosure in this case violate that policy. We are working with Residential and Dining Enterprises to provide additional training and ensure proper review of all materials.”

There is a history of universities editing photos so that they appear more diverse: The Times reports that in 2000, the University of Wisconsin-Madison edited out a white student for a Black student for the cover of its undergraduate application booklet.

It turned out to be a costly error: the university had to reprint 100,000 brochures, opting to go with a sunset photo as the cover instead.