The Galgotia University incident at the AI Impact Summit, where they falsely claimed to have developed a Robodog and possibly even the Soccer Drone at their Centre of Excellence, brings to the fore the larger malaise of mediocre or ” copied” research being passed off as innovation. The incident raises fundamental questions about Indian academia’s outlook towards research and development. The ensuing digital outrage compels the education sector to reassess its positionalities in the competitive world of rankings, rewards, and recognitions. As scholars of communication and media studies, this moment also calls for reigniting conversations on building conducive environments for original ideas to live, thrive, flourish, and find their credible forms based on conceptual rigour and grounded in contextual understanding. It requires a reappraisal of the purpose of higher education and a reset of the relationship with research to avoid succumbing to the seductive allure of imitation and importation of intellectual properties.
Parallelly, the case in point also underlines that as researchers, if we do not work honestly to build our competencies, particularly the original ideas, spend time on processes and deeply engage with critical articulations of domain knowledge, the ‘absences or the lack of wherewithal ‘ will push us towards copying, replication without attribution or the much rampant plagiarism as we chase patents, prototypes and publications. Which is merely a performative illusion of rapid “innovation” based on lies and puffery, with high probability of being caught, shamed, and, as a consequence, suffering severe reputational loss. Innovation built on intellectual misconduct often backfires. And it did for Galgotia University at India’s largest confluence of technology and digital interventions, The AI Impact Summit, 2026.
In that moment of truth, the university lost reputation, the academic scholarship lost credibility and support, and the nation lost face.
For Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), it is a harsh reminder that brand building is neither pseudo-postering nor making misleading claims but the creation of an enduring perceptual identity where perception is built on trust, and trust is built on truth, where truth is gained through honest research and collaboration, which requires reading, prolonged discussions, critical thinking, upskilling, and constant practice. And all of it takes time, effort, sincerity and support.
Research was never ‘the ready-to-eat instant food ‘, but is a gourmet meal, slowly cooked with an eclectic mix of ingredients, mindfully chosen with painstaking effort and patience. Authentic research resists haste and bragging!
