Nikon has disqualified the winning entry of its Small World in Motion photomicrography contest. The decision followed an investigation into the video, which was found to violate competition rules regarding the use of generative artificial intelligence.
The video, created by Dr. Ning Xu, depicted cilia movement in the respiratory tract of a child with primary ciliary dyskinesia. Following public scrutiny of the footage, Dr. Xu admitted on LinkedIn that he used an unsupervised neural network to process the images.
Dr. Xu stated that the AI was used for post-processing to distinguish and present specific structures within the images. Nikon determined that this level of algorithmic intervention exceeded the contest's permitted use of AI, leading to the removal of the video from the official website.
Following the disqualification, the entry by Nguyen Nam Nhat from Vietnam was promoted to first place. Nikon announced plans to review its future competition rules and judging procedures to better define the acceptable boundaries for AI technology in scientific imaging.
