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Stanford Altered AI Photo With Students Goes Viral
Stanford Altered AI Photo With Students Goes Viral
PALO ALTO, Calif. - Stanford University officials removed promotional banners across campus after admitting staff used artificial intelligence to alter a photograph of students, violating university policy.
Stanford use of AI violates policy
The incident came to light following a report by The Stanford Review, which published side-by-side comparisons of the original and promotional images.
The original photograph featured three students at a campus dining hall. In the final promotional version, one student was digitally replaced by an AI-generated individual of a different race and gender, while the facial features of the remaining students were slimmed and altered.
University faces backlash
The alterations ignited widespread reaction among students on campus social media platforms. University officials confirmed that both the unauthorized image manipulation and the failure to disclose the edits violated Stanford's explicit policy against using AI to alter images of campus community members.
Students react
One student, who only gave her first name, Maggie, had a lot of questions.
"I am curious why they felt the need to do that. It's a strange thing for a poster. ‘Welcome home. We want you all here, but not you. We are going to switch you out for someone else,’" she said.
Other students we spoke with on campus said it is wrong to change what students look like in photographs without their consent. Some pointed out hypocrisy, saying the student code of honor deals with the responsibility of AI use.
Students also said they feel bad for their fellow students who were altered for the promo materials.
Altered promotional materials removed
Stanford officials stated the affected promotional banners have been taken down and announced plans to implement additional AI policy training for university staff along with stricter review procedures for future promotional materials.