Winner of Nikon’s Microscopic Video Contest Disqualified for AI Use

Nikon has announced that the video that initially secured the top spot in its Small World in Motion contest “did not comply with the competition rules regarding generative AI.” Reports indicate that the original winning entry from Dr. Ning Xu purported to showcase “tiny, hair-like structures called cilia moving in the airway of a child with the respiratory condition PCD.” Following some online skepticism about its authenticity, Nikon stated last week that it was reviewing the video.

In a LinkedIn comment, Dr. Xu acknowledged the use of AI in creating the video: “An unsupervised neural-network method was subsequently used for AI-assisted post-processing to distinguish and visualize features in the reconstructed grayscale images from the super-resolution optical imaging.” As a result, Dr. Xu’s video has been disqualified and seems to have been removed from Nikon’s website. The updated rankings now place a video from Nguyen Nam Nhat in first place. In light of this incident, Nikon has expressed intentions to “revisit rules and evaluation procedures for future competition entries.” The company also clarified that the decision to disqualify Dr. Xu’s video “should not be interpreted as a judgment of the entrant’s professional reputation, scientific contributions, or intent.”