New Delhi: Shiv Sena-UBT MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Wednesday slammed the Galgotias University amid the controversy over the use of a Chinese robodog at the India AI Impact Summit, calling it “outright plagiarism” and demanding an apology from the institution.
Speaking to IANS, Chaturvedi noted that the AI Summit is meant to highlight genuine work in innovation, explore new ideas, and develop learning models. She added that artificial intelligence can be used to make systems easier and more efficient, and can play a significant role in governance, education, and healthcare.
However, she said it is unacceptable for anyone to claim credit for another person’s invention, especially at a high-profile international summit.
“This is outright plagiarism, and it is not right for the country. When such a big summit is being held, with so many prominent and international personalities attending, one cannot claim, ‘This is our creation’, only for it to be exposed by Chinese handles,” she said.
Calling the incident a national embarrassment, Chaturvedi said Galgotias University must apologise and admit that its claims were false.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that action has been taken on acts of wrongdoing at the AI Summit expo.
“In the Artificial Intelligence (AI) exhibition, many good solutions have been presented. If anyone has done wrong, immediate action has been taken against the wrongdoing. However, one should look at other good AI solutions also,” Vaishnaw told the media.
Earlier in the day, professors from the university came out to clarify their stand.
Stating that they never pitched the Chinese AI-powered robodog as its own, the professors said that the matter was blown out of proportion on social media and the whole episode emanated over a small misinterpretation, which was “unintended and unintentional”.
Speaking to IANS, Professor Neha Singh said the controversy arose due to miscommunication while she was explaining the robot’s capabilities. She said her intention was to highlight how students were studying the robot and working on further development, not to falsely claim ownership.
“I was explaining what the robot can do, its features, and all related details. Somewhere along the way, the message got slightly digressed, and later, many things became controversial. The purpose was for students to study the robot and further develop it, contributing to a stronger and more Viksit Bharat. That was our full intention. Unfortunately, due to the surrounding excitement and hype, some things got misrepresented, and the words were slightly misinterpreted… We are genuinely embarrassed about it and feel bad that this happened at the AI Summit, which was meant to showcase our students’ work,” she said.
She further clarified that the robot was brought to the expo as part of a research and learning exercise.
“We have taken that robot for studying it and doing research. It was in the lab, and it was brought here for projection. After the controversy, I will ask everyone to see what our students have made,” she added.
(IANS)
