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An Indian university was reportedly asked to leave an artificial intelligence summit in New Delhi after one of its professors displayed a robotic dog made in China but claimed it was their own invention.
Galgotias University was ordered to take down its stand at the India AI Impact Summit after Nehan Singh, a communications professor at the university, told a state-run broadcaster that the robotic dog at their display was from the university.
The robot was identified by Internet users as the Unitree Go2, which is sold by China’s Unitree Robotics for $1,600 (€1,336).
Singh said in a video from news agency The Press Trust of India that “things may not have been expressed clearly.”
**”**I take accountability that perhaps I did not communicate it properly, as it was done with a lot of energy and enthusiasm … so I may not have come across as eloquently as I usually do,” a translation of Singh’s remarks read.
“We cannot claim that we manufactured it,” adding that she introduced students to the robot dog to “inspire them to create something better on their own.”
‘Deeply pained’ by the incident
Two government officials told the Associated Press that the incident was an embarrassment for India.
The university said in a statement to Press Trust India that one of their “representatives manning the pavilion was ill-informed,” and was not aware of the technical origin of the product thatw as on display.
“There was no institutional intent to misrepresent the innovation,” the spokesperson said to the news agency.
An earlier statement from the university said it was “deeply pained” by the incident and described it as a “propaganda campaign” that could spread negativity and harm the morale of students working to innovate, learn and build their skills using global technologies.
Singh would not confirm whether their booth was removed from the summit and neither did spokespeople from the university.
The incident comes as India tries to cast itself as a global hub for AI innovation with its summit, which kicked off earlier this week with long queues and delays at the venue.