On 9 October Nikon announced that the winning video in its microscopy video competition did not comply with the rules on generative AI, and adjusted the rankings. According to Nikon, the case shows that the rules and evaluation procedures need to be revisited.
- 9 October 2026: Nikon announced that the winning video in Small World in Motion 2026 did not comply with the competition rules on generative AI, and adjusted the rankings. The new first place goes to Nguyen Nam Nhat from Vietnam.
- According to Nature, the video shows cilia in the lungs and won on 15 September; within days scientists wrote on LinkedIn that parts of it seemed biologically implausible.
- Nikon says the decision is not a judgment of the entrant's reputation, scientific contributions or intent, and writes that the case shows the need to revisit its rules and evaluation procedures.
The video shows the cilia in the lungs moving. On 15 September it won first place in Small World in Motion, Nikon's competition for video through the microscope. Within days, according to Nature, scientists wrote on LinkedIn that parts of it seemed biologically implausible.
The author's explanation, as Nature reports it, is an enhanced visual presentation of the regions below the cilia, with no anatomical claims about them. But in a microscopy competition the picture itself is the claim. It carries no footnote. The viewer sees cells and believes they were there.
Processing has always been part of this work: contrast, color, noise. Until now it showed more clearly what the microscope had seen. A generative model can also show something the microscope never saw, and a lay viewer's eye has no way of telling them apart.
Nikon says clearly that it is not judging intent, and there is no reason for us to do so. The important part is its other sentence: the case shows the need to revisit the rules and the checks. The rules on the competition website, in the text for the edition now taking entries, say it briefly: AI-generated videos are not permitted, and Nikon may request the original video for verification. How far AI processing is allowed, they do not say.
The new first place is a roundworm and a single-celled Dileptus. The hard part for the next competition is writing down how far processing helps the eye and where it starts painting instead of the microscope.