AI disqualification yields new Nikon Small World in Motion winner

Title: AI disqualification yields new Nikon Small World in Motion winner

Last month we covered the winner of Nikon’s Small World in Motion video: Ning Xu of Tsinghua University in China, whose video captured tiny cilia beating in the airways of a child with a rare respiratory disorder. But allegations surfaced about Xu’s use of AI while making the video. Nikon launched an investigation and concluded that Xu’s entry did not comply with competition rules.

上个月，我们报道了尼康“微观世界动态摄影大赛”（Small World in Motion）的获胜者：来自中国清华大学的徐宁（音译），他的视频捕捉到了患有罕见呼吸系统疾病儿童气道中纤毛跳动的画面。然而，随后出现了关于徐宁在制作视频时使用人工智能的指控。尼康公司展开调查后得出结论，徐宁的参赛作品不符合比赛规则。

The new winner is Nguyen Nam Nhat of Vietnam with a video of a tiny roundworm and a single-celled organism (above). According to a BBC report, some researchers expressed concern that Xu’s video had structural abnormalities and that cell features appeared and disappeared in a way one would not see in actual cellular biology. Others spotted what looked like AI watermarks embedded within the source files.

新的获胜者是来自越南的阮南纳特（Nguyen Nam Nhat），其获奖作品是一段关于微小线虫和单细胞生物的视频（见上图）。据英国广播公司（BBC）报道，一些研究人员表示担忧，认为徐宁的视频存在结构异常，且细胞特征的出现与消失方式在实际细胞生物学中并不存在。其他人则在源文件中发现了疑似人工智能生成的数字水印。

Xu said he used AI “to distinguish and visualize features in the reconstructed grayscale images”; however, he denied that AI was used “to generate the experimental movie, the cilia, or their motion.” Founded in 2011, the Nikon Small World in Motion competition is a spinoff of the company’s Small World Photomicrography Competition, which has been around since 1974.

徐宁表示，他使用人工智能是为了“区分和可视化重建灰度图像中的特征”；但他否认使用人工智能“生成实验视频、纤毛或其运动过程”。尼康“微观世界动态摄影大赛”创办于2011年，是该公司自1974年起举办的“微观世界显微摄影大赛”的衍生赛事。

Both are meant “to showcase the beauty and complexity of things seen through the light microscope”—one through still photographs, the other through photovideography, taking advantage of all the technological advances that now allow users to make movies or time-lapse images through the microscope. The other winners also moved up a notch with Xu’s disqualification.

这两项比赛旨在“展示通过光学显微镜观察到的事物的优美与复杂性”——前者通过静态照片，后者通过显微摄像技术，利用现有的技术进步，让用户能够通过显微镜制作视频或延时摄影图像。随着徐宁被取消资格，其他获奖者的名次也相应提升。

Benedikt Pleyer of Bavaria, Germany, placed second with a video of jellyfish larvae suspended in water droplets; Andrew Moore of Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the US placed third with a video of synchronized cell division in neighboring cells; Patrick Hickey of Hypha Research Ltd. in Edinburgh, Scotland, placed fourth with a video of the dynamics of mitochondria and chloroplasts in Turtle Vine leaf cells; and Igor Adameyko placed fifth with a video of a tiny, colorful sea slug (Cyerce kikutarobabai) on the move.

来自德国巴伐利亚州的贝内迪克特·普莱尔（Benedikt Pleyer）凭借一段悬浮在水滴中的水母幼虫视频获得第二名；美国霍华德·休斯医学研究所的安德鲁·摩尔（Andrew Moore）凭借一段相邻细胞同步分裂的视频获得第三名；苏格兰爱丁堡Hypha Research Ltd.的帕特里克·希基（Patrick Hickey）凭借一段龟背竹叶细胞中线粒体和叶绿体动态的视频获得第四名；伊戈尔·阿达梅科（Igor Adameyko）则凭借一段微小且色彩斑斓的海蛞蝓（Cyerce kikutarobabai）移动视频获得第五名。

Here is Nikon’s full statement: After thoroughly re-evaluating the video and supporting materials and consulting with members of our judging panel, Nikon has determined that the winning video did not comply with the competition rules regarding generative AI. Nikon has adjusted the competition rankings on our website to reflect this decision.

以下是尼康公司的完整声明：在对视频及相关支持材料进行彻底重新评估并咨询评审团成员后，尼康认定该获奖视频不符合比赛关于生成式人工智能的规则。尼康已调整了网站上的比赛排名以反映这一决定。

This decision is based solely on the submitted video’s eligibility under the rules outlined for this competition. It should not be interpreted as a judgment of the entrant’s professional reputation, scientific contributions, or intent. Advances in imaging and artificial intelligence continue to evolve rapidly, creating new challenges for organizations across many fields.

此决定仅基于参赛视频在比赛规则下的合规性。这不应被解读为对参赛者职业声誉、科学贡献或意图的评判。成像技术和人工智能的进步正在迅速演变，为各领域的组织带来了新的挑战。

This event has shown the need for Nikon Small World and Nikon Small World in Motion to revisit rules and evaluation procedures for future competition entries. The Nikon Small World and Nikon Small World in Motion competitions celebrate excellence in imaging, both scientific and artistic in nature. We value the integrity of each image and video selected to appear in our winning galleries, and remain committed to upholding the standards of excellence that have defined this competition.

此次事件表明，尼康“微观世界”和“微观世界动态摄影”大赛有必要重新审视未来参赛作品的规则和评估程序。尼康“微观世界”系列比赛旨在颂扬科学与艺术层面的卓越成像技术。我们珍视入选获奖画廊的每一张图片和视频的完整性，并将继续致力于维护定义本项比赛的卓越标准。