Stanford University has removed an AI-generated image depicting its marching band as entirely white and male, the latest controversy over the university’s use of artificial intelligence to represent its campus community.
The image appeared on the “About” page of Stanford’s Campus Center construction project website, depicting a marching band in red blazers and fedoras performing in White Plaza. The university described it as a conceptual rendering of the space.
The Stanford Daily, the university’s student newspaper, first reported on the image Oct. 21. Band leaders questioned why Stanford used an AI-generated depiction when photographs of the actual organization were readily available.
“Your image is not of any new proposed aspect of the campus center and therefore does not constitute ‘concept rendering’ as you claim,” band leaders wrote in an email to the Campus Center team obtained by the student newspaper. They urged the university to use an existing photograph rather than “falsifying an all-white, all-male, AI slop version of the Band.”
Band members also expressed concern that the image could undermine efforts to recruit women and students of color, according to The Stanford Daily.
Stanford replaced the image with another rendering of the space. Assistant Vice President of Communications Angie Davis told The Stanford Daily that the figures were illustrative, were not intended to depict real individuals and were not meant to represent members of the marching band.
“As is standard with construction and design projects, the Campus Center website is illustrated with artist renderings to show the vision for the reimagined center of campus. AI-assisted imagery is standard industry practice for architectural visualization,” Davis wrote.
The incident has raised questions about Stanford’s AI guidelines for marketing and communications, which prohibit generating content that “depicts, impersonates, or closely resembles a real person.” The university has not acknowledged a policy violation in this case.
In September, Stanford faced criticism after its Residential and Dining Enterprises department used AI to alter an existing photograph of students in promotional materials. The Stanford Review, a conservative student newspaper, first reported that the university had replaced a Hispanic male student with an AI-generated Black woman.
The original photograph, taken in 2024, showed three students posing with food outside Star Ginger, a dining hall food stall. The altered image removed the male student and changed aspects of the other students’ appearances, according to The Stanford Daily and Inside Higher Ed.
Stanford officials acknowledged that the alteration violated university policy. In a statement reported by The Stanford Daily, university public relations director Charlene Gage said the policy prohibits using AI to produce or alter images of Stanford people, events, research, facilities or achievements. She said the university would provide additional staff training and strengthen its review of materials.
Later in September, Stanford also removed several pieces of AI-generated artwork from Lakeside Dining, The Stanford Daily reported.
