(The Stanford Review at Stanford University showcased the original photo and the “diversified” image the school used in its advertising.)
THE LEAD: If at first you can’t make your campus look diverse, let AI do it for you:
Stanford Residential & Dining Enterprises recently used AI to change the races of the students it included in its advertisements. AI was also used to noticeably slim down and alter students’ faces.
On his journey to campus, Stanford student Billy Ramirez ’27 was sent an image he recalled a Stanford photographer taking. Upon closer examination, he noticed that he had been removed from the photo and replaced by a AI-generated black woman.
On top of the swap out of Ramirez, the AI apparently decided the Asian lady could stand to lose a few pounds and that the white kid needed a better haircut.
And we wonder where young people get their issues…
DOCTOR OF PAPER FLASHBACK: Not to get too “old man shouting at cloud” about this, but back in the day at the University of Wisconsin Madison, administrators didn’t need AI to improve diversity.
MADISON, Wis., Sept. 24 (AP) — The University of Wisconsin at Madison has acknowledged altering a publicity photograph to add a black face to a crowd of white football fans, a step the college says it took to present an image of diversity.
The university said last week that it had digitally altered the cover of its fall admissions brochure to include a black senior, Diallo Shabazz, who says he has never even attended a football game at the university. The mistake was brought to light after a sharp-eyed staff member at the student newspaper, The Daily Cardinal, noticed that Mr. Shabazz’s face seemed to be lighted differently from the other students’.
(“You think anyone will notice we stuck a random black guy’s head in there?” “Nah… Print that thing!”)
Back then, it became such a viral thing (back before we really knew what viral was) that The Onion even took a shot at this stupidity:
DISCUSSION STARTER: What is your general feeling about using AI to alter reality, especially in a way like Stanford did? You could easily argue that people were being lazy, in that I’m sure they could have found a photo that represented the diversity mix the folks there wanted. You could also argue that this is deceptive, which calls into question every OTHER thing the folks present as fact. There are also a ton of other ways you can look at this, so have at it.
