Stanford University: the Residential & Dining Enterprises department used generative AI to alter a promotional photograph of three students, replacing a Hispanic male student with an AI-generated Black woman, slimming two students' faces and changing their clothing, on campus banners; the university said the undisclosed alteration violated its AI policy, apologised and opened an investigation (Stanford Review, Stanford Daily, NBC Bay Area, NBC News, 21-24 September 2026)

The Stanford Review (21 September 2026) reported that Stanford Residential & Dining Enterprises had used AI to change the races of students in its advertisements and to slim and alter their faces. A student, driving to campus, was sent by a friend images comparing an R&DE banner with the original photograph he remembered a Stanford photographer taking; he had been removed from the photograph and replaced by an AI-generated Black woman, and the two students to his right were distorted to appear visibly thinner. He told the Review he at first found it hilarious but was also upset because he did not agree with Stanford making those choices about how the students 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.' NBC Bay Area (22 September) reported that the university had removed the promotional photograph, which digitally swapped a male Hispanic student for an AI-generated Black female student without disclosure in breach of Stanford's policy prohibiting AI in photographs depicting people or events, and planned staff training. The Stanford Daily (23 September) reported the university's confirmation that R&DE used generative AI to modify the appearance of several students, and described the changes: clothing changed into Stanford merchandise, two students' faces slimmed and one student's race, gender and appearance entirely changed; the university's public relations director said both the alteration and the lack of disclosure violated the AI policy and that training and review of all materials would follow. The Daily confirmed the photograph was used in a custom banner in the Governor's Corner student housing centre, since taken down; the story had gone viral through the replaced student's own post on Fizz, an anonymous social media app, and drawn national coverage. The replaced student told the Daily that a friend had sent him the edited photograph, that he had thought at first he had been merged with another student before realising he had been replaced, that he was exhausted by the media attention ('I want it to stop'; 'I don't want my legacy at Stanford to be the AI guy'), that the original image was taken at the 2024 Lunar New Year Dinner in Stern Dining and had been used unaltered in earlier promotional material, and that he wanted a public statement from the university. NBC News (24 September) reported the university's statement that the alteration violated its policy on AI in marketing and communications, that 'the ways in which it was altered, reflect a serious error in judgment', that it had apologised to the students in the photograph whose images were altered or erased, and that it had launched an investigation; it also reported the Review editor's account that the altered photographs were placed on welcome banners around campus and had been taken down, and the student's remark to The New York Times that seeing himself erased so easily was very upsetting.

A student's image was removed from an institutional photograph and replaced with an AI-generated person of a different race and gender, and two other students' faces were slimmed and their clothing changed, all without disclosure, on campus advertising; the replaced student describes feeling silenced and erased and being exhausted by the resulting national attention, and the university says it has apologised to the students in the photograph whose images were altered or erased (The Stanford Review, The Stanford Daily, NBC News). No financial or physical harm is reported.

Stanford confirmed the AI alteration violated its policy ('The use of AI in producing or altering images of Stanford people, events, research, facilities, or achievements is strictly prohibited'), removed the banner, promised additional staff training and review of materials (The Stanford Daily, NBC Bay Area), apologised to the students and opened an investigation 'to put in place protocols to prevent it from happening again' (NBC News, 24 September 2026). The student body president said students should be able to trust that their images are used accurately. No legal action is reported.