Congress on Wednesday slammed the BJP-led central government over displaying a Chinese-made robotic dog at the ongoing India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.
Calling the AI summit a "disorganised PR spectacle," leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, alleged that Chinese products were being exhibited there instead of leveraging India's talent.
"Instead of leveraging India’s talent and data, the AI summit is a disorganised PR spectacle - Indian data up for sale, Chinese products showcased," Gandhi said in a post on X.
Gandhi's remarks came after a controversy erupted over the display of a Chinese-made robotic dog labelled 'Orion' at the stall of the Galgotias University at the AI Summit Expo.
While explaining the features of the robot to a news channel on Tuesday, Neha Singh, a professor of communications at the University, claimed that it "has been developed by the Centre of Excellence at Galgotias University."
As the video went viral, social media users highlighted that the robot was actually a Unitree Go2, manufactured by China's Unitree Robotics and commonly used in research and education worldwide.
Shortly after, the university was asked to vacate the stall at the AI summit.
The university later issued an apology stating "one of our representatives manning the pavilion was ill-informed" and was unaware of the origins of the product.
Responding to the incident, the Congress party accused the central government of embarrassing India.
"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 Chinese media has mocked us. This is truly embarrassing for India," the party said in a post on X.
Accusing IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw of promoting Chinese-made robots at the Indian summit, the party alleged, "What is even more shameful is the fact that Modi’s minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is indulging in the same falsehood, promoting China's robots at the Indian summit."
"The Modi Government has caused irreparable damage to the image of the country - they have reduced AI to a joke - a field in which we could be world leaders, given our data power. Brazenly shameless," the Congress said.
