Indian professor's robot dog claim at AI summit sparks uproar

NEW DELHI: An Indian professor has falsely suggested a Chinese-made robot dog displayed at a major AI summit was developed by her university, prompting backlash in a situation politicians derided as "embarrassing" on Wednesday.

The silver mechanical dog -- a model sold by Chinese startup Unitree -- appeared at a booth run by the private Galgotias University at this week's AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.

Following online uproar over the professor's claim in a televised interview, Galgotias said that while it did not build the machine, "what we are building are minds that will soon design, engineer, and manufacture such technologies".

"You need to meet Orion," the professor told an Indian TV reporter as the dog performed tricks such as waving at the camera and springing up on its hind legs.

"This has been developed by the centers of excellence at the Galgotias University," she said, touting the institution's investments in artificial intelligence technology.

"As you can see, it can take all shapes and sizes... it's quite naughty also," she said.

In a statement posted on social media platform X, the university said: "Let us be clear -- Galgotias has not built this robodog, neither have we claimed."

The "recently acquired" Unitree robodog is a "classroom in motion" and "our students are experimenting with it, testing its limits", it said.

'Brazenly shameless'

India's Congress opposition party used the incident to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is hosting nearly 20 world leaders and dozens more national delegations at the five-day summit.

"The Modi government has made a laughing stock of India globally, with regard to AI. In the ongoing AI summit, Chinese robots are being displayed as our own," the party wrote in a post on X.

"This is truly embarrassing for India," it added, calling the incident "brazenly shameless".

The TV reporter who had conducted the interview, Tapas Bhattachary, urged viewers to take a broader perspective.

"If one out of hundreds of exhibitors wasn't being upfront about their innovation, I would not give up on the entire India's youth who are very innovative," Bhattachary said.