Amid the controversy involving Galgotias University over a Chinese robotic dog showcased at the India AI Impact Summit, Union Minister Chirag Paswan on Thursday termed the incident a “major lapse” and said the government would decide on further action after the summit concludes.
Interacting with reporters, Paswan said it was completely wrong for a university to display a product and falsely claim ownership of it. “This is a major lapse. A university displaying something incorrect in this manner and taking ownership of it is completely wrong,” he said.
Referring to the varsity representative who spoke about the robotic dog, Paswan said she appeared to be using words carefully to justify the situation. “The person present there was trying to play with words. She claimed that it was conveyed differently and later misinterpreted. But when an AI Summit is being held in the country, such incidents become a serious matter,” he added.
Paswan said the issue is a cause for concern, especially because the summit is a global platform and is being closely watched internationally. He stressed that such incidents can harm India’s image in front of the world.
“The summit is still going on. After it concludes, the government will decide what action should be taken. The way this was presented has created a wrong impression in front of the whole world,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena-UBT MPs, including Priyanka Chaturvedi and Anil Desai, questioned the role of the organisers and demanded strict action, including penalties, against the university. The MPs said the incident was not only a matter of national embarrassment but had also led to international ridicule.
In its first official reaction to the controversy on Wednesday, the Centre said it wants “genuine and actual work” to be displayed at such platforms and does not want to encourage misinformation.
The Greater Noida-based university came under heavy criticism on social media after Neha Singh, a Professor of Communications, claimed in an interview to DD News that a robotic dog displayed at the university’s pavilion had been developed by its “centre of excellence”. She also referred to the robotic dog as “Orion”. However, it soon emerged that the product was the Unitree Go2, developed by China’s Unitree Robotics.
Neha Singh later blamed miscommunication for the incident. Meanwhile, the university distanced itself from her remarks and said she was not authorised to speak to the media. In a statement, Galgotias University apologised for the confusion and claimed that the representative was “ill-informed”.
“We at Galgotias University wish to apologise profusely for the confusion created at the recent AI Summit. One of our representatives, manning the pavilion, was ill-informed. She was not aware of the technical origins of the product and, in her enthusiasm on being on camera, gave factually incorrect information, even though she was not authorised to speak to the press,” the institute said.
