A scientist who won first place in Nikon's Small World in Motion competition has been stripped of the award after online reviewers questioned the authenticity of the winning video. The submission by Dr. Ning Xu claimed to show cilia—tiny, hair-like structures in the human body—moving inside the airway of a child with primary ciliary dyskinesia, a respiratory condition.
Doubts surfaced online regarding how the microscopic footage was processed. In a comment on LinkedIn, Dr. Xu acknowledged using an unsupervised neural-network method for AI-assisted post-processing to help distinguish and visualize features from reconstructed optical images. Following a review, Nikon concluded that the video did not comply with competition rules regarding generative AI, leading to its disqualification and removal from Nikon's website.
Following the decision, Nikon updated its rankings to award first place to a video by Nguyen Nam Nhat. The camera maker noted in a statement that the decision to disqualify the entry should not be interpreted as a judgment of Dr. Xu's professional reputation, scientific contributions, or intent.
The incident underscores the growing challenges organizers face as artificial intelligence tools become more prevalent in digital imagery. Nikon stated that it plans to revisit its rules and evaluation procedures for future competition entries.