Nikon Crowns Nguyen Nam Nhat After AI Probe Disqualifies Prior 2026 Small World Winner
Updated
Updated · Ars Technica · Oct 9
Nikon Crowns Nguyen Nam Nhat After AI Probe Disqualifies Prior 2026 Small World Winner
3 articles · Updated · Ars Technica · Oct 9
Summary
Nguyen Nam Nhat of Vietnam was elevated to winner of Nikon’s 2026 Small World in Motion contest after the original top entry was ruled ineligible.
Nikon said Ning Xu’s video did not comply with competition rules after an investigation into allegations that AI was used in making the microscopy film.
Researchers had flagged structural abnormalities, disappearing cell features and apparent AI watermarks in Xu’s source files; Xu said AI only helped visualize reconstructed grayscale images, not generate the movie or motion.
The disqualification shifted the rest of the rankings up one place, with Benedikt Pleyer moving to second, Andrew Moore to third, Patrick Hickey to fourth and Igor Adameyko to fifth.
Founded in 2011, the video contest is a spinoff of Nikon’s 1974 photomicrography competition and is meant to showcase microscope imagery through motion as well as still photos.