From The Verge · Stevie Bonifield · · 1m 10s
Nikon competition winner stripped of title for using AI
Dr. Ning Xu's first-place video in Nikon's Small World in Motion contest was disqualified after he admitted to using generative AI in post-processing.
In brief
Dr. Ning Xu's first-place video in Nikon's Small World in Motion contest was disqualified after he admitted to using generative AI in post-processing. Nikon disqualified the first-place winner of its Small World in Motion video contest for using generative AI in post-processing, violating competition rules. Originally…
Nikon disqualifies first-place winner
Nikon says the video that originally won first place in its Small World in Motion contest did not comply with competition rules regarding generative AI.
Dr. Xu admits to AI post-processing
Dr. Ning Xu's winning video claimed to show cilia moving in a child's airway. In a LinkedIn comment, Dr. Xu admitted using an unsupervised neural-network method for AI-assisted post-processing to visualize features.
“An unsupervised neural-network method was subsequently used for AI-assisted post-processing to distinguish and visualize features in the reconstructed grayscale images from the super-resolution optical imaging.”
New winner takes first place
Dr. Xu's video has been removed from Nikon's website. A video from Nguyen Nam Nhat now holds first place according to the contest's updated rankings.
Nikon to revisit competition rules
Following the incident, Nikon says it plans to revisit rules and evaluation procedures for future competition entries. Nikon noted the disqualification should not be interpreted as a judgment of Dr. Xu's professional reputation or intent.
The takeaway
Nikon disqualified the first-place winner of its Small World in Motion video contest for using generative AI in post-processing, violating competition rules.
