AI-created video wins prestigious scientific competition

The video was stunning: fine, colored cilia moving within the airway of a child with a rare genetic disorder. But microscopy experts were unconvinced, and days after the announcement, Nikon withdrew the award.

In a statement, the company said that the first-place video in the 2026 “A World in Motion” competition violated its rules on generative artificial intelligence. The decision followed a re-evaluation of the video in consultation with the judging panel, and the company emphasized that the ruling pertained solely to the video’s eligibility and did not affect the creator’s professional reputation.

The video had been submitted by a researcher in optical engineering at a Chinese university at the time, who claimed it showed respiratory cilia from a child with primary ciliary dyskinesia, magnified 100 times. An associate professor at the University of Florida wrote at the time that the nuclei in the footage did not behave like nuclei, that the cilia appeared out of nowhere, and that their size was inconsistent with reality. Researchers issued an open letter warning that the video risked distorting public understanding of a rare and poorly understood disease.

The first-place prize then went to Vietnamese researcher Nguyen Nam Nhat for a video showing a small roundworm encountering a single-celled organism. Nikon stated that the incident would prompt a review of the evaluation criteria for future editions.