Nikon strips microscopy video prize over generative AI use
Last week, Nikon took away the top prize in its microscope video contest because the video broke its rules on AI, the BBC and Nature reported. Scientists had said the video of cells in a child's airway did not look real. CNN said a video by a researcher from Vietnam is the new winner.
Nikon last week disqualified the winning entry in its Small World in Motion microscopy video competition, saying it broke the contest's rules on generative AI, the BBC and Nature reported.
The video showed tiny hair-like structures called cilia moving in the airway of a child with primary ciliary dyskinesia, or PCD, a rare genetic disorder, the outlets reported. It was awarded first place on Sept. 15, Nature said.
Within days, scientists said on LinkedIn that some features in the video seemed biologically implausible, according to Nature. The BBC said a number of scientists, including former competition judges, complained to Nikon on its LinkedIn page that the video did not appear to be real.
Robert Hirst, a University of Leicester scientist who is lead scientist for the NHS center for PCD diagnosis there, said he "knew immediately that the video was fabricated," the BBC reported. He said the cells and cilia "look nothing like those from PCD patients." CNN reported that Edward Phelps, an associate professor at the University of Florida, had said there were "many serious problems with this video."
On Oct. 9, Nikon said the video "did not comply with the competition rules regarding generative AI," the outlets reported. The company said the decision "should not be interpreted as a judgment of the entrant's professional reputation, scientific contributions, or intent," Nature and CNN reported. A Nikon Small World spokesperson told Nature on Sept. 25 that the company was investigating. The BBC reported that Nikon said it would now look at the contest's rules and procedures.
The entrant, Ning Xu, had acknowledged using AI but said he believed he had acted within the rules, and he cooperated with Nikon's investigation, the BBC reported. Nature said Xu wrote on LinkedIn that his team used an AI model in post-processing to enhance parts of the video "without making anatomical claims about what those rendered features represent." Xu did not respond to Nature's request for comment.
The outlets describe Xu differently. The BBC said he is from Tsinghua University in China. Nature called him an optical engineer at the National University of Singapore, and a university spokesperson told Nature he entered the contest before he joined the university.
The new winner is a video of a tiny roundworm and a single-celled organism called Dileptus by Vietnamese researcher Nguyen Nam Nhat, CNN reported.
What we know: Nikon disqualified the winning video for breaking its generative AI rules, and the rankings have been adjusted.
What we don't: Exactly which parts of the video were made or changed with AI.
Where outlets agree The BBC and Nature both report that Nikon disqualified the winning video for breaking the competition's rules on generative AI.
Where they differ The BBC says Xu is from Tsinghua University in China, while Nature says he is an optical engineer at the National University of Singapore.