Winner of Nikon's Small World In Motion competition was AI generated
Nikon has disqualified the winner of its 'Small World In Motion' microscopy competition after it was discovered the entry was generated by AI. Experts challenged the video's authenticity, leading the company to name a new winner.
Why it matters
Highlights the growing challenge of verifying authenticity in scientific and creative competitions as generative AI tools become more sophisticated.
The winner of a Nikon image and video competition has been disqualified after using AI.
Days after the winner was announced, microscopy experts started to question the accuracy of the clip on social media.
The international competition has since named a new winner.
Link copied Share Share article The winner of an international imagery competition has been disqualified after it was found that they used generative AI.
Nikon said the video broke the rules of the annual Small World In Motion competition that awards the best photos and videos taken through the lens of a microscope.
The video, taken by Ning Xu, an optical engineering researcher at Tsinghua University in China at the time, "did not comply with the competition rules regarding generative AI," Nikon said in a statement .
Also covering this story
One other newsroom covered this event. We read that version too.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in