Stanford Residential & Dining Enterprises used artificial intelligence to alter a promotional photo of students in a campus dining hall, replacing one student with a generated image of a Black woman and changing other students’ appearances, according to the student newspaper The Stanford Review.

The original photograph showed three students holding plates of food. In the version used on campus banners, junior Billy Ramirez was removed and replaced. The two other students in the frame also appeared altered, with slimmer faces.

Ramirez said a friend sent him a comparison of the banner and the original photo while he was driving to campus. “I was immediately baffled,” he told The Stanford Review. “At first, I found it hilarious that they had used AI to completely change our appearances, including my race and gender. 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 changed and being left out of a photo that was supposed to include him made him feel “silenced and erased.”

The image was later used on “Welcome Home” banners. Stanford later acknowledged that AI had been used to alter the photo and said the change violated university policy. A spokesperson, Charlene Gage, said Stanford prohibits using AI to produce or alter images of Stanford people, events, research, facilities, or achievements, and that both the alteration and the lack of disclosure violated that policy. The university said it was providing additional staff training and reviewing materials. Reports said the banners were being taken down.

The Stanford Review first published the before-and-after comparison. Other coverage noted Ramirez is Hispanic, while some headlines described the replaced student as a white man based on the original photo.

Source: New York Post reporting, Sept. 22, 2026; The Stanford Review.