A scientific photography contest just ran headlong into the AI era. Nikon has stripped the top prize from a winning microscope video after concluding it relied on generative AI in a way that violated the rules of its Small World In Motion competition, the BBC reports. The entry, from Tsinghua University's Dr. Ning Xu, depicted cilia movement in the airway of a child with PCD, a rare respiratory disease. Scientists soon raised doubts, with Dr. Robert Hirst at the University of Leicester saying "some of these features just are not consistent with nature."
Hirst says he "knew immediately that the video was fabricated" and he's not surprised by the disqualification. "I have been diagnosing PCD for 20 years by examining their cilia waveform, length, cell size and shape," and the cells and cilia look nothing like those in real patients, he says. Xu had acknowledged using AI but insisted he only used it for enhancement. He said he believed he stayed within guidelines and cooperated with Nikon's review.
After re-examining the video and consulting judges, Nikon announced the disqualification and said it will revisit contest rules. The contest, which has been running for 15 years, accepts photos and videos taken with powerful microscopes, the BBC reports. With Xu's entry disqualified, this year's winner is Nguyen Nam Nhat, whose video shows a tiny roundworm and a single-celled organism exploring their surroundings, the Scientist reports.
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