Breaking

Stanford Dining Reportedly Used AI to Change Students' Race, Gender, and Bodies in an Ad

September 21, 2026 at 14:43 EDT

Media Generation

Stanford's Residential & Dining Enterprises used artificial intelligence to alter students in a dining advertisement, replacing one student with an AI-generated woman of a different race and making two others look thinner, The Stanford Review reported on Monday. Billy Ramirez, class of 2027, said the change left him feeling "silenced and erased."

SEPTEMBER 21, 2026 · STANFORD R&DE

A dining ad replaced the student who was there

Generative editing changed one student's race and gender and made two others look thinner. He says the banner left him out of a picture that was supposed to include him.

STUDENTS IN THE PHOTOGRAPH

One replaced, two made thinner

Replaced

Race and gender changed

Slimmed

Faces altered, bodies thinner

Every student in the three-person photograph was altered.

HOW IT MOVED

From a real photograph to a banner

A Stanford photographer takes the picture

→

AI changes race, gender, faces, and bodies

→

The result is printed as a dining banner

→

The removed student sees the comparison

STILL UNEXPLAINED

The edit has no public account of who did it

The side-by-side shows what changed. It does not show the tool, the permission, or a reply.

TOOL

No AI model is named

CONSENT

No agreement from the students is described

No statement from the university

THE STUDENT

Funny at first, then erased

Billy Ramirez, class of 2027, said changing his identity and leaving him out felt like being silenced.

THE PICTURE

Not a straight crop

The other two students' faces and bodies also differ from the photograph taken in the dining hall.

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