Earlier this month, the Nikon Small World in Motion competition was rocked when the winner's video was found to have used AI in a way that violated the rules. Chinese scientist Ning Xu's video, which captured the beating cilia in a child's airways, was disqualified. The mantle has been handed over to Nguyen Nam Nhat from Vietnam, whose video features a roundworm and a single-celled organism.

The controversy has left many questioning the role of AI in scientific research. Some researchers noted structural abnormalities in Xu's video, suggesting AI may have manipulated the data. Xu himself defended his use of AI, claiming it was only for visualizing features in reconstructed images, not generating the movie itself.

The Nikon Small World in Motion competition, born in 2011 as a spinoff of the photography contest dating back to 1974, has always aimed to showcase the intricate beauty of microscopic life. This year, it serves as a reminder that even the most advanced technologies can challenge the integrity of scientific competitions.

The remaining winners include:

Benedikt Pleyer from Germany, who captured jellyfish larvae in droplets of water; Andrew Moore from the US, who documented synchronized cell division in neighboring cells; Patrick Hickey from Scotland, who filmed the dynamics of mitochondria and chloroplasts in Turtle Vine leaf cells; and Igor Adameyko, who showcased a tiny, vibrant sea slug moving across the screen.