After an “international-level embarrassment ”, the Galgotias University’s attempt to clarify and apologise over the ‘robot dog’ row seemingly only further fueled the fire on social media, as their “reasoning” behind the “confusion” hardly sat well with netizens. For context, the controversy was triggered after a GalgotiasUniversityprofessor, Neha Singh, showed a robotic dog to DD News, saying that it was “developed by the Centre of Excellence” at the university for theAI Impact Summit. However, the "achievement" soon turned into “embarrassment” after it was revealed that it was a “China-manufactured robot”.

The controversy only grew bigger, as the university was later asked to vacate the stall at the India AI Impact Summit 2026. Amid the backlash, the Galgotias University, along with the professor, issued an apology on Wednesday, February 18. As per the apology, the robot was not a “university creation” and that the “institution had never claimed otherwise”.

The university’s apology did not stop at that; it further claimed that the professor was “ill-informed” and was “not aware of the technical origins of the product”. As per the apology, she was not, in fact, “authorised to speak to the press”, and ended up giving the statement in her “enthusiasm for being on camera”.

"We at Galgotias University wish to apologise profusely for the confusion created at the recent Al Summit. One of our representatives, manning the pavilion, was ill-informed. She was not aware of the technical origins of the product and, in her enthusiasm of being on camera, gave factually incorrect information even though she was not authorised to speak to the press... Understanding the organiser's sentiment, we have vacated the premises,” the apology read.

As soon as the statement began to go viral, netizens began to side with the professor and started blaming the institution for making her a “scapegoat” in the matter. Memes and jokes soon began to take over the post, where netizens were rather brutal with their blame.

“Galgotias University issues a press statement following the row over the display of a Chinese-made robodog at the AI Impact Summit expo,” the post read.

The post was shared on X (formerly Twitter) by the news agency ‘ANI’. The post was shared today and pulled more than 158K views from netizens.

Galgotias University’s apology over the robot dog row. Image Source: ANI/ X

ALSO READ:Galgotias University Apologises Over Chinese Robot Dog Row, Blames 'Ill-Informed Representative, Vacates AI-Summit Premises

“Neha ji scapegoated! I’m sure she was authorised to speak to the press and was specifically placed there for that role. Why else would you bring the Professor of Communications to an AI summit?” the post read.

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