Nikon has disqualified the winning entry in its Small World in Motion competition, a contest for video recorded through the microscope, after ruling that the film broke the competition’s rules on generative AI. BBC News reported the decision, and Ars Technica published Nikon’s statement in full.
The disqualified entry came from Dr Ning Xu of Tsinghua University in China. It was a short video of cilia, the hair-like structures found in the airway, moving in the airway of a child with the respiratory condition PCD, according to the BBC. Scientists, among them former judges of the competition, complained on Nikon’s LinkedIn page that the footage did not appear to be real, the BBC reported.
Small World in Motion has run for 15 years and is a competition for microscopic images, according to the BBC. It grew out of Nikon’s Small World photomicrography competition, which dates back to 1974, Ars Technica reported. Photomicrography is photography through a microscope, and the newer contest applies the same idea to moving pictures.
Dr Robert Hirst of the University of Leicester, the lead scientist for the NHS centre for PCD diagnosis there, was among the first to raise concerns. He said he “knew immediately that the video was fabricated”, and that the cells and cilia looked nothing like those of PCD patients, according to the BBC. “I have been diagnosing PCD for 20 years by examining their cilia waveform, length, cell size and shape,” Dr Hirst said, as reported by the BBC.
Nikon reached its decision after a review of the entry. “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 company said in its statement, as published by Ars Technica.
The same statement drew a line between the ruling and the person who made the film. “It should not be interpreted as a judgment of the entrant’s professional reputation, scientific contributions, or intent,” Nikon said.
Dr Xu acknowledged that he had used AI but said he believed he had acted within the rules, and he cooperated with Nikon’s investigation, the BBC reported. As quoted by Ars Technica, he said he used AI “to distinguish and visualize features in the reconstructed grayscale images” and denied that it was used “to generate the experimental movie, the cilia, or their motion.”
“It should not be interpreted as a judgment of the entrant’s professional reputation, scientific contributions, or intent.”
Nikon, in its statement as published by Ars Technica
The other placings have moved up. The new winner is Nguyen Nam Nhat of Vietnam, with a video of a tiny roundworm and a single-celled organism, according to Ars Technica. Benedikt Pleyer of Germany moves up to second with a film of jellyfish larvae in water droplets, and Andrew Moore of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute moves to third with footage of synchronised cell division, Ars Technica reported.
Dr Xu’s account turns on the difference between using AI to analyse an image and using it to create one. AI tools that read medical and biological images are also being studied in the open, such as the FaceAge AI tool that estimates biological age from a face photo, which reads a real photograph rather than producing one.
Rules Under Review
Nikon says it will revisit the rules and evaluation procedures of both Small World and Small World in Motion. “This event has shown the need for Nikon Small World and Nikon Small World in Motion to revisit rules and evaluation procedures for future competition entries,” the statement said.
Dr Hirst said the effects had reached well beyond the competition itself. “This controversy has impacted a lot of patients, scientists, doctors and PCD support networks around the world,” he said, according to the BBC.
Sources: BBC News, “Prize-winning image which sparked backlash was AI-generated, Nikon rules”, 9 October 2026 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr86z33pdy9vo); Ars Technica, “AI disqualification yields new Nikon Small World in Motion winner”, 9 October 2026 (https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/winning-nikon-small-world-in-motion-video-disqualified-for-ai-use/)
