Nikon revokes first prize in Small World in Motion video competition over AI use

Nikon Small World/ Dr. Ning Xu

The winner of a prestigious scientific photography competition has been disqualified after organizers concluded that his use of generative AI broke the rules.

Ning Xu was named the winner of the annual Nikon Small World in Motion competition in September, but his video received a number of critical comments from experts who questioned its use of AI.

Nikon Small World/Nguyen Nam Nhat

Nikon launched an investigation, and announced its conclusion in a statement Friday.

“After thoroughly re-evaluating the video and supporting materials and consulting with members of our judging panel, Nikon has determined that the winning video did not comply with the competition rules regarding generative AI,” the statement reads, adding that the competition rankings have been adjusted.

“This decision is based solely on the submitted video’s eligibility under the rules outlined for this competition. It should not be interpreted as a judgment of the entrant’s professional reputation, scientific contributions, or intent,” it said.

Nikon also said it would revisit its rules and evaluation procedures for the annual competition in future.

The new winner is a video showing a tiny roundworm and a single-celled Dileptus, a kind of single-celled microorganism, by Vietnamese researcher Nguyen Nam Nhat.

Xu’s video captures the abnormal beating of airway cilia — hairlike structures that protrude from cells within the human body — in a child living with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), a rare genetic disorder.

When Nikon posted the video on LinkedIn, it attracted criticism from scientists such as Edward Phelps, an associate professor at the University of Florida, who said there were “many serious problems with this video.”

Winner of Nikon microscopy photo contest faces criticism over AI usage

Phelps said that some of the biological structures shown in the footage do not behave as expected. “The microscopy community deserves an explanation from Nikon,” Phelps added.

In response, in a series of comments on LinkedIn, Xu acknowledged that he had used AI.

“AI was not used to generate the experimental movie, the cilia, or their motion,” he wrote.

“It was applied afterwards to the reconstructed grayscale data to distinguish and color structures with similar morphology,” he added.

CNN has reached out to Xu, who now works at the National University of Singapore as a research fellow, for further comment.

尼康微观世界/徐宁博士

一位著名科学摄影比赛的获胜者被取消了参赛资格，原因是组织者认定他使用生成式人工智能违反了比赛规则。

宁旭在9月份被评为尼康年度“小世界动态摄影大赛”的冠军，但他的视频受到了一些专家的批评，他们质疑该视频对人工智能的使用。

尼康小世界/阮南日

尼康公司展开了调查，并在周五的一份声明中公布了调查结果。

声明中写道：“在彻底重新评估了视频和辅助材料，并咨询了评审团成员后，尼康认定获奖视频不符合有关生成式人工智能的比赛规则”，并补充说比赛排名已经调整。

“这项决定完全基于所提交视频是否符合本次比赛规则。它不应被解读为对参赛者的专业声誉、科学贡献或意图的评判。”声明中写道。

尼康还表示，未来将重新审视年度比赛的规则和评估程序。

新的获奖作品是由越南研究员阮南日制作的一段视频，视频中展示了一条微小的线虫和一种单细胞微生物——迪莱普图斯（Dileptus）。

徐的视频捕捉到了患有原发性纤毛运动障碍（PCD，一种罕见的遗传性疾病）的儿童气道纤毛（从人体细胞伸出的毛发状结构）异常摆动的画面。

尼康在 LinkedIn 上发布这段视频后，招致了包括佛罗里达大学副教授 Edward Phelps 在内的科学家的批评，Phelps 表示“这段视频存在许多严重问题”。

尼康显微镜摄影大赛获奖者因人工智能使用问题面临批评。

菲尔普斯表示，视频中显示的某些生物结构的行为与预期不符。“显微镜界理应得到尼康的解释，”菲尔普斯补充道。

对此，徐在LinkedIn上发表了一系列评论，承认他使用了人工智能。

他写道：“人工智能并没有用于生成实验影片、纤毛或纤毛运动。”

“之后，我们将该方法应用于重建的灰度数据，以区分和着色具有相似形态的结构，”他补充道。

CNN已联系徐，他目前在新加坡国立大学担任研究员，希望获得进一步评论。