On October 9, 2026, Nikon disqualified the video declared the winner of the Small World in Motion microscopic video competition. After a careful re-evaluation of the video and its accompanying materials, and consultations with members of the judging panel, the company announced that it did not comply with the competition's rules on generative artificial intelligence (AI). The Verge reported the news on October 9, 2026. The same day, Ars Technica published details of the incident.
The decision is a rare event in the competition's history: a work announced as the winner was subsequently removed from the results list for a rule violation, and the win passed to another entrant.
How the dispute began
The dispute began after scientists publicly questioned the authenticity of Dr. Ning Xu's video, which had been declared the competition's winner. According to the author, the video captured the movement of cilia in the airways of a child with PCD airway disease.
The video had initially been declared the winner. But following the announcement, the scientific community began questioning its credibility. Cilia are tiny hair-like structures lining the surface of the airways. The video was said to show exactly their movement.
The scientists' objections focused on the credibility of that footage: whether the movement in the microscopy frames was a natural process or the product of post-processing — the debate centered on that question. Once the doubts became public, Nikon began a re-evaluation process. The company reviewed not only the video itself but also the materials submitted with it.
How the decision was made
Nikon said it made the decision after a thorough review. The company re-evaluated the video and its accompanying materials and consulted with members of the judging panel. The final conclusion: the video did not comply with the competition's rules on generative AI.
The review rested on three pillars: the video material itself, additional documents submitted by the author, and the conclusions of the judging panel members. The company said it based its decision on these three sources.
The company also drew a clear line around what the decision means. It stressed that the decision should not be interpreted as a judgment on the participant's professional reputation, scientific contribution, or intent.
"This decision should not be interpreted as a judgment on the participant's professional reputation, scientific contribution, or intent," Nikon emphasized.
That phrase was given special emphasis in the company's statement. Nikon recorded the rule violation but cautioned against interpreting it as an assessment of the author's character or scientific work.
What the rules say
The Small World in Motion competition has rules on generative AI. Nikon determined that the winning video did not comply with exactly those rules and issued its disqualification decision on that basis.
The company's conclusion is clear: the processing method used in the video went beyond the permitted boundary. The decision's text did not disclose the technical details of the method, but the evaluation result was deemed sufficient for disqualification.
The central question of the dispute
At the center of the dispute is a single question: where does AI-assisted post-processing end and a violation of the generative AI rules begin. The two sides answered it differently.
Dr. Xu acknowledged that he had subjected restored grayscale microscopy images to AI-assisted post-processing based on an unsupervised neural network method. By his own admission, the processing was applied to restored grayscale microscopy images and was based on an unsupervised neural network method. He maintained that he had acted within the competition's rules. Dr. Xu himself did not consider the method to violate the competition's rules. Ars Technica reported this.
Nikon, however, found that same method to violate the competition's generative AI rules. The dispute thus came down to two opposing conclusions: the author considers his method compliant with the rules, while the organizer assesses it as a violation.
Who the new winner is
After the disqualification, the win passed to Nguyen Nam Nhat's video. It features a small roundworm and a single-celled Dileptus. Nikon updated the competition ranking and officially announced the new winner. With the ranking update, the official results list also changed.
The competition results were thus reshuffled: the previous winner was removed from the list, and the next-placed entry rose to the top step.
Nikon to review the rules
Nikon said advances in imaging technologies and artificial intelligence are posing new challenges for the competition. In the company's assessment, modern processing methods are creating situations that had not previously arisen in applying the competition's rules.
The company therefore plans to review the rules and evaluation procedures for future entrants. The review will apply to participants in future competitions. The move comes as AI tools play an ever-expanding role in imaging.
