The winning entry of Nikon's annual Small World In Motion contest is being re-evaluated after other scientists criticised it for allegedly being made with AI. The competition, which has run for 15 years, accepts photos and videos taken using powerful microscopes.
The winning short video was submitted by Dr Ning Xu, a researcher at Tsinghua University in China. It claims to show tiny, hair-like structures called cilia moving inside the airways of a child with a rare disease.
Dr Xu has posted online denying he broke competition rules. In a response to Nikon on LinkedIn, he did not dispute using AI in image processing but stated, "AI was not used to generate the experimental movie, the cilia, or their motion." He accepted AI was used "to distinguish and visualize features in the reconstructed grayscale images."
Challenges from other scientists include claims that the video contains shapes and movements inconsistent with normal cell structures or behaviours, and that the cilia appeared too large. Edward Phelps, an associate professor at Florida University, observed some structures "pop in and out of existence" and cilia "appear from nowhere." Additionally, PhD student Ian Donovan from UT Southwestern Medical Centre stated the source image seemed to contain a watermark indicating AI generation. Two former competition judges have also expressed concerns about the image's authenticity.
Nikon stated Dr Xu is "respectfully complying" with its investigation and has provided additional technical documents. The company initially said, "At this time, we don't see that any rules were violated," but confirmed an update would be provided soon.