Stanford University used AI to change the appearance of students in an advertisement

A subdivision of Stanford R&DE applied generative tools to edit photos of students used in campus advertising materials, changing the ethnic and gender characteristics of at least one student and digitally altering facial features of other students.

The incident became public after publication in the Stanford Review, which presented evidence of manipulation of the original photos, including a significant transformation of student Billy Ramirez's appearance, which distorted his real identity for the university's marketing purposes.

The use of technology to "adjust" appearance to advertising standards has been criticized by the student community, with discussion of the situation actively taking place on the Hacker News platform, where users point to the ethical risks of automated image processing in educational institutions.

So far, the management of Stanford R&DE has not provided official comments on which specific AI tools were used for retouching and who authorized the use of such methods, raising questions about the boundaries of acceptable use of generative content in official communications of large organizations.