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.
Fact
The facts: on 9 October 2026 Nikon announced on the Nikon Small World website that, after re-evaluating the video and supporting materials and consulting members of its judging panel, it had determined that the winning video in Small World in Motion 2026 did not comply with the competition rules regarding generative AI. The rankings were adjusted. According to Nikon, the decision concerns only the video's eligibility under the rules and should not be read as a judgment of the entrant's professional reputation, scientific contributions or intent. The company writes that the case shows the need to revisit the rules and evaluation procedures for future entries. In the new ranking, first place goes to Nguyen Nam Nhat from Vietnam: a tiny roundworm and a single-celled Dileptus, filmed with differential interference contrast (DIC). According to Nature, the author of the removed video is Ning Xu, an optical engineer at the National University of Singapore, and the competition website does not permit AI-generated videos. Xu wrote on LinkedIn that his team had used an AI model in post-processing to enhance the visual presentation of the regions below the cilia, “without making anatomical claims” about what they represent; those posts have since been taken down. The university told Nature that Xu took part before he joined it and that the video is unrelated to his work there.
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.
Under the microscope, the picture is evidence, not decoration.
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.
Sources
Nikon Small World - Nikon Small World in Motion Video Statement, 09.10.2026Nature - Award-winning microscopy image disqualified over AI use, 12.10.2026Nikon Small World - Small World in Motion Video Competition Official Rules, entries 24.07.2026 - 30.04.2027The visual is generated code-art, no third-party images.