Stanford apologizes for using AI to swap race, gender of a student in its marketing materials

Staff Writer Sept. 24, 2026 5:17 PM PT Stanford University student Billy Ramirez was startled when his friend sent him a photo of him and others holding bowls of noodles that he remembered posing for at a Lunar New Year celebration in a university dining hall.

He had been removed from the photo altogether. In his place was a Black woman Ramirez didn’t recognize, Ramirez told the Stanford Review, a student newspaper, in an interview.Ramirez’s two classmates, an Asian woman and a white man, remained in the edited version, but they were changed to appear thinner, and their facial features were noticeably distorted.

First reported by LA Times: California.