Stanford University has been embroiled in another AI image controversy after it was forced to remove an image of an all-white, all-male marching band from its website following an outcry from students.
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it → embroil → students
The AI-generated picture, published on the prestigious US university’s Campus Center construction website, showed a band dressed in red blazers, white shirts and fedoras performing on the campus’ White Plaza.
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band → generate → Plaza
Members of the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band told The Stanford Daily they were shocked to find the AI-generated image on the university’s website.
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they → tell → website
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Sign → sign → California
Drum major Jose Serrano called the decision “pretty stupid.”
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Serrano → call → decision
“If you’re going to use AI, make an AI thing for your building, but don’t put people on it,” he said.
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he → go → it
Band conductor and executive officer Sadie Taylor said the depiction was particularly frustrating, given the organization’s efforts to attract a diverse membership.
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depiction → say → membership
“We work pretty hard to champion diversity within the organization and try and encourage women and students of color to join,” she said.
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she → work → color
“So to see the University sort of undo all of that, it’s pretty frustrating.”
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it → see → that
Taylor and fellow band leaders formally complained to the Campus Center team on Monday, pointing out that authentic photographs of the band were already available.
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photographs → complain → band
“We welcome you to use one of those, instead of falsifying an all-white, all-male, AI slop version of the Band,” they wrote.
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they → welcome → Band
The university replaced the image with another architectural rendering shortly afterward.
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university → replace → rendering
“Our likenesses are being put into this AI algorithm and spit out and spat out, which is just ridiculous.
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which → put → algorithm
It’s insane,” he said.
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he → ’ → ?
Stanford defended the image as an architectural visualization intended to illustrate Commons Great Room, part of the wider Campus Center redevelopment.
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Stanford → defend → redevelopment
Assistant Vice President of Communications Angie Davis said the figures were illustrative and were not intended to represent members of the marching band.
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figures → say → band
“AI-assisted imagery is standard industry practice for architectural visualization,” Davis wrote in an email to The Stanford Daily.
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Davis → assist → Daily
However, band members said the figures’ clothing closely resembled their distinctive uniforms, with some claiming the generated figures looked like actual members.
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figures → say → members
Stanford’s AI guidelines prohibit generating “content that depicts, impersonates, or closely resembles a real person.”
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that → prohibit → person
The university has not said the marching band image breached those guidelines.
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image → say → guidelines
The latest controversy follows a separate incident in September, when Stanford admitted it had breached its own AI policies by digitally altering a photograph used in promotional material.
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it → follow → material
Hispanic student Billy Ramirez was removed from a photograph taken at a Lunar New Year celebration in 2024 and replaced with an AI-generated black woman.
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Ramirez → remove → woman
Two other students in the image were digitally altered to appear thinner.
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students → alter → image
The changes, first reported by student publication The Stanford Review, prompted the university to remove the promotional banners.
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changes → report → banners
“Both the alteration and lack of disclosure in this case violate that policy,” Stanford said in a statement, adding that it would provide additional training and strengthen reviews of promotional material.
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it → violate → material
Ramirez described the experience as upsetting.
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Ramirez → describe → experience
“To see me erased like that so easily was kind of very upsetting,” he said.
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he → see → that
Stanford’s policy prohibits using AI to produce or alter images of university people, events, research, facilities or achievements.
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policy → prohibit → people
While the university acknowledged a policy breach in Ramirez’s case, it defended the marching band image as an illustrative rendering rather than a depiction of identifiable people.
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it → acknowledge → people
The Aporia
