Both Ars Technica and The Verge report that Nikon disqualified the original first-place winner of its Small World in Motion competition, Dr. Ning Xu of Tsinghua University. His video showed cilia in a child's airway, but an investigation concluded it did not comply with the competition's rules on generative AI. Nguyen Nam Nhat of Vietnam now takes first place with a video of a roundworm and single-celled organism.
The two outlets note that Xu acknowledged using AI for post-processing. The Verge quotes his LinkedIn comment describing an unsupervised neural-network method to distinguish and visualize features in reconstructed grayscale images. Ars adds that Xu denied using AI to generate the experimental movie, the cilia, or their motion, and that researchers had raised concerns about structural abnormalities and possible AI watermarks in the source files.
Nikon said the decision should not be interpreted as a judgment of Xu's professional reputation, scientific contributions, or intent. Both sources report that Nikon plans to revisit its rules and evaluation procedures for future entries. Ars also notes that the other finalists moved up in the rankings, with Benedikt Pleyer, Andrew Moore, Patrick Hickey, and Igor Adameyko now placing second through fifth.