Following a viral post on Fizz, an anonymous campus social media app, R&DE staff removed several pieces of allegedly AI-generated art from Lakeside Dining.
The incident comes as Stanford faces national scrutiny after Residential and Dining Enterprises (R&DE) used AI to replace a student in promotional materials, changing his gender and ethnicity to a Black woman, while altering the appearance of two others.
The cartoons appear to depict the child performing the physical gestures for the proverbial principle “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” with his hands covering his eyes, ears and mouth in each image. This sequence of gestures originated as a Japanese pictorial maxim called the “three wise monkeys.”
The images do not appear to match any known artwork online and have several stylistic elements associated with AI. According to Calvin Matthew ’29, who authored the Fizz post on Sept. 27, the posters replaced images of civil rights activists and other Black historical figures.
“I feel like most people on campus agree that low-quality AI art should not be hung up, especially by R&DE,” Matthew said.
Lakeside, which features food themed around the “rich traditions of Southern Cooking,” also serves a variety of cultural foods from the African and Black diaspora. The dining and buffet areas have historically played into this theme, displaying posters of prominent Black figures. The hall is located right next to Ujaama House, a culturally themed dorm focused on the Black diaspora.
Matthew, who lived in West Lagunita as a freshman, visited the dining hall with several of his friends on Sept. 27 before realizing that one wall now displayed three pieces of art which he said were clearly AI-generated.
“I looked up from our homework and I just realized that there’s these three, almost 100% certain, AI pictures on the wall,” said Matthew. He said he felt surprised to see the pictures, given the recent controversy with R&DE’s AI-replacement of students.
Some on Fizz have noted that the AI artwork went up as early as last spring. The Daily confirmed this with several other students who said they recognized the images from last year.
In response to The Daily’s request for comment, a Stanford spokesperson wrote that the University will follow up with more information.