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An Indian university was instructed to remove its booth from the country’s leading AI summit after a staff member was caught showcasing a commercially available robotic dog made in China as if it were a proprietary development. According to two government officials, the mistake prompted the university to be asked to vacate the premises.
Neha Singh, a communications professor, explained to state broadcaster DD News this week, “You need to meet Orion. This has been developed by the Center of Excellence at Galgotias University,” a statement that quickly went viral.
Social media users promptly identified the robot as the Unitree Go2, a product from China’s Unitree Robotics, retailing at around $2,800. The robot is commonly used in research and educational settings worldwide.
This incident has sparked significant criticism and has cast a shadow over India’s ambitions in artificial intelligence. The situation was further worsened when IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw shared a video of the robot on his official social media before removing the post in reaction to the backlash.
Both Galgotias University and Singh have since clarified that the robot was not an original product of the university, and that they never claimed it was. As of Wednesday morning, the university’s stall was still open to visitors, with faculty members responding to media inquiries about allegations of plagiarism and misrepresentation.
A university spokesperson confirmed they have yet to receive any formal notification about being expelled from the event. The AI summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, scheduled to continue until Saturday, is being promoted as the first major artificial intelligence conference hosted in the Global South. Notable speakers include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Google’s Sundar Pichai, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, all set to speak on Thursday.
Since its opening, the event has faced organizational challenges, including crowding and logistical issues. Nonetheless, more than $100 billion in investment pledges for Indian AI initiatives have been announced at the summit, with backing from prominent firms such as the Adani Group, Microsoft, and data center company Yotta.
India’s main opposition party, Congress, expressed outrage over the incident, criticizing the government’s handling of AI development. They commented on social media, “The Modi government has made India a laughingstock globally in AI,” referencing the robotic dog controversy.
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