§ Claim under review · Safety
"Stanford's Residential & Dining Enterprises used AI to alter a real 2024 Lunar New Year dinner photo for a campus banner, removing student Billy Ramirez and replacing him with an AI-generated Black woman while also altering the appearances of the other two students; Stanford removed the banners after confirming the edits, saying the AI alteration and lack of disclosure violated university policy."
Verdict
Mostly accurate
Confidence
HighSummary
This post is essentially correct. Stanford confirmed that a photo of three students in one of its dining halls was altered using AI and then used on campus banners. In the edited version, student Billy Ramirez was removed and replaced by an AI-generated Black woman, and the appearances of the two other students were also changed, including their faces, clothing and body shape. The banners were taken down, and a university spokesperson said the AI alteration and the failure to disclose it both violated Stanford policy, which prohibits using AI to produce or alter images of Stanford people. Stanford also called it a serious error in judgment and apologized to the students. Two small points: the story was first broken by The Stanford Review rather than The Stanford Daily, which the post names as its source, and Stanford has not publicly said who actually made the edit or what tool was used.
The readings
key figures from the evidenceas-of date of confirmed incident and apology
Why this verdict
Evidence
Multiple independent named outlets report the same incident, and the university admitted it on the record through a named spokesperson.
Inside Higher Ed and the San Francisco Chronicle both carry the same verbatim statement from Stanford spokesperson Charlene Gage, stating that the university reviewed the matter and confirmed AI was used to alter the image in violation of university policy, that Stanford's policy strictly prohibits using AI to produce or alter images of Stanford people, events, research, facilities or achievements, and that "Both the alteration and lack of disclosure in this case violate that policy." The same statement says additional staff training and review of materials are being put in place.
Inside Higher Ed describes the original and edited images: three students posing with food outside Star Ginger, a dining hall food stall, with the rightmost male student removed in the edited version and a Black woman generated in his place. It also reports further changes, including slight alterations to the other two students' faces, the "Stanford University" wording on the female student's sweatshirt being made clearer, and a pair of headphones removed from the center student's neck. NBC News reports that the two remaining people were made to look "noticeably slimmer."
The Stanford Daily reports that Ramirez said the original image was taken in Wilbur Dining at the 2024 Lunar New Year Dinner and that the unaltered photo had been used in earlier university promotional material. The Daily confirmed the photo was used on a custom banner in the Governor's Corner student housing center, which has since been taken down. NBC News reports the Stanford Review's editor saying altered photos were placed on welcome banners around campus and that he noticed on Wednesday that the banners had been removed.
The two other pictured students published a statement, whose authorship The Stanford Daily verified, saying one student's clothing was changed to Stanford apparel and both of their faces were altered. They asked to remain unnamed because of ongoing harassment.
NBC News reported that Stanford called the episode "a serious error in judgment" and apologized to the affected students.
Findings
✓ What's accurate 8
- A real photograph of three students, taken in a Stanford dining hall in front of the Star Ginger stall, was altered with generative AI and used on campus banners, as reported by Inside Higher Ed, the San Francisco Chronicle, NBC News and The Stanford Daily.
- In the altered version the student on the right was removed and a Black woman was generated in his place, per Inside Higher Ed and NBC News.
- The removed student is Billy Ramirez, who spoke on the record to The Stanford Daily about the incident.
- The appearances of the other two pictured students were also changed. Inside Higher Ed describes slight facial alterations, a clearer "Stanford University" sweatshirt logo and removed headphones; NBC News says the two were made to look noticeably slimmer; the two students themselves said their faces were altered and one student's clothing was changed to Stanford apparel.
- The banners were taken down. The Stanford Daily confirmed the Governor's Corner banner had been removed, and the university's own statement said the banners had been taken down.
- Stanford confirmed the AI use and said both the alteration and the lack of disclosure violated its policy. That is the spokesperson's own quoted wording, not a paraphrase by the post.
- Stanford's Residential & Dining Enterprises is the unit connected to the banner. Inside Higher Ed names R&DE as the unit that used the AI-edited photograph in its advertising.
- The photo's origin as a 2024 Lunar New Year dinner at Wilbur Dining is supported by Ramirez's account to The Stanford Daily and by later reporting relayed from the Los Angeles Times via EdSource and AsAmNews.
≈ What's misleading 2
- The post credits The Stanford Daily as its source. The story was first reported by The Stanford Review, a different student publication, and the Daily followed with its own confirmation and interviews. Both outlets covered it accurately, so this does not change the substance of the claim, but the origin credit is placed on the wrong publication.
- Beyond that, I found no distortion of the claim's substance. The claim's wording is close to, and in the policy-violation element essentially identical to, what the university itself said.
? What's uncertain 4
- Who actually performed the AI edit is not publicly established. Reporting attributes the use of the altered image to R&DE, and The Stanford Daily reported that R&DE altered the image, but Stanford's own statement identifies no individual, unit or outside vendor and instead refers to additional training for all staff. Whether the editing was done in house or by a contractor remains unresolved.
- The precise sequence implied by "removed the banners after confirming the edits" is not pinned down. The removal and the confirming statement both occurred around 2026-09-22 to 2026-09-23, and reporting does not establish which came first.
- The exact AI tool used is not stated in any source found.
- Whether the 2024 Lunar New Year dinner origin has been confirmed by the university, rather than only by the pictured student and subsequent reporting, is not established in the sources retrieved.
Sources
7 of 8 linked to recordsThe Stanford Daily, "University confirms use of AI-edited photo amid controversy," 2026-09-23
San Francisco Chronicle, "Stanford violated its AI policy by turning a Hispanic student into a fake Black woman in an ad," 2026-09-23
Inside Higher Ed, "AI-Edited Stanford Ad Violated University Policy, Official Says," 2026-09-23
NBC News, "Stanford apologizes, saying AI-altered photo that changed student's gender and race violated policy," 2026-09-25
The Stanford Daily, "'The Other Two' students in AI photo controversy speak out," 2026-09-24
KQED, "Stanford AI Usage, 'Face Swaps' on Campus Banner Spark National Backlash," 2026-09-24
AsAmNews, 2026-09-27, aggregating EdSource, Los Angeles Times and NBC reporting
The Stanford Review (originating report)