Boston Dynamics names former Amazon Alexa and Nova chief Rohit Prasad as CEO

Prasad led Amazon's Alexa assistant and later created the Amazon Nova foundation model family as the company's AGI head. Boston Dynamics, controlled by Hyundai Motor Group, says his appointment is meant to speed the integration of AI and robotics and widen commercial use of its machines across industrial and enterprise settings. Board chair Jaehoon Chang, vice chair of Hyundai, pointed to the group's manufacturing and logistics base as the platform for scaling. He becomes the company's third permanent chief executive, succeeding interim leader Amanda McMaster after Robert Playter departed in February. The hire comes as humanoid and general purpose robot makers compete for foundation model talent and as labs push their models into physical tasks. For AI founders, a robotics leader chosen for model building rather than hardware signals where incumbents think the value now sits. Expect more demand for robot foundation models, simulation data and deployment tooling, and more competition for people who have shipped large models into consumer products.