Nikon Small World in Motion awards new winner after AI disqualification
The original winner of Nikon's Small World in Motion competition has been disqualified due to AI use concerns. Nguyen Nam Nhat from Vietnam has been named the new winner.
Nikon's Small World in Motion video competition has a new winner after the initial first-place entry was disqualified due to concerns over the use of artificial intelligence. The video by Ning Xu of China, which depicted cilia beating in the airways of a child with a rare respiratory disorder, was investigated by Nikon and found to be non-compliant with competition rules.
The new winner is Nguyen Nam Nhat of Vietnam. His video features a microscopic view of a tiny roundworm and a single-celled organism. Xu had stated he used AI to "distinguish and visualize features in the reconstructed grayscale images" but denied using it to generate the "experimental movie, the cilia, or their motion." Some researchers had raised concerns about perceived structural abnormalities in Xu's original video.
Founded in 2011, the Nikon Small World in Motion competition is an extension of Nikon's Small World Photomicrography Competition, established in 1974. Both contests aim to showcase the intricate beauty of subjects viewed through a light microscope, one through still photography and the other through videography.
Following Xu's disqualification, the other award recipients have moved up one position. Benedikt Pleyer of Germany secured second place, Andrew Moore of the US took third, Patrick Hickey of Scotland placed fourth, and Igor Adameyko received fifth place.