Boston Dynamics names former Amazon AI executive Rohit Prasad CEO

Boston Dynamics names former Amazon AI executive Rohit Prasad CEO

Live•Oct 7, 08:30 PM•2 min read•
Carlos Mendez
Carlos Mendez

Boston Dynamics has named former Amazon executive Rohit Prasad as CEO, effective tomorrow, nearly nine months after former CEO Robert Playter stepped down, first reported by Therobotreport. Prasad will replace interim CEO Amanda McMaster, as Boston Dynamics says his appointment will accelerate its physical AI strategy of combining robotics and advanced AI to commercialize intelligent machines at scale.

McMaster took over after Playter left in February. Prasad is the company’s third CEO; founder Marc Raibert led it from its creation in 1992 until 2020.

Before joining Boston Dynamics, Prasad was Amazon’s senior vice president and head scientist for Alexa and artificial general intelligence. During 12 years at Amazon, he helped build Alexa from its earliest days and later led development of the Amazon Nova foundation model family used by enterprises. Before Amazon, he spent nearly 14 years at Raytheon BBN Technologies, leading machine-learning research and its real-world application for U.S. government and commercial use.

Prasad said he plans to productize intelligent robotic systems to improve safety, productivity and operational efficiency across industrial and commercial environments. His background spans consumer AI and enterprise foundation models, while Boston Dynamics says its strategy combines advanced AI with robotics to commercialize intelligent machines.

Jaehoon Chang, Hyundai vice chair and chair of Boston Dynamics’ board, said the company’s robotics, Prasad’s AI product experience, and Hyundai Motor Group’s manufacturing, logistics and mobility capabilities provide a foundation to build and scale physical AI. Hyundai acquired a controlling stake in Boston Dynamics from SoftBank Group in 2021.

Subject to the relevant approval process, Prasad is also expected to join the company’s board.

Arizona appeals court vacates manslaughter sentence after AI video

An Arizona appeals court vacated the 10.5-year sentence of Gabriel Horcasitas while upholding his manslaughter conviction, first reported by Nytimes. The case returns to Maricopa County Superior Court for resentencing without the video, after judges found that it presented scripted statements as if the victim himself were speaking in court.

The three-judge panel said the video generated a likeness of Christopher Pelkey’s voice and appearance but did not reflect actual events. It found that allowing and relying on the video made the sentencing fundamentally unfair, and noted that no prior Arizona case had addressed the admissibility of such a depiction at sentencing.

The judges said a victim’s right to speak cannot override a defendant’s right to be sentenced on accurate, reliable information. They said the video collapsed the distinction between the family’s belief about what Pelkey would have said and Pelkey’s own voice and opinions.

The ruling distinguishes family members speaking about Pelkey from a generated likeness that appeared to speak for him.

Pelkey’s sister, Stacey Wales, presented the video during Horcasitas’s sentencing alongside victim-impact statements from family and friends. Wales wrote the script and said her husband and the couple’s longtime business partner helped create the video using Pelkey’s voice from a YouTube video and his face and torso from a funeral-service poster.

Judge Todd F. Lang praised the video as genuine, then imposed the maximum sentence of 10.5 years, more than the nine years prosecutors had sought.

Wales said nobody intended to make the court believe Pelkey was alive or that he had recorded the video before his death. She said she disagreed with the ruling and argued that families use slide shows, collages, hypothetical conversations and poetry to convey grief.

Wales compared the AI video with photography, saying it took 15 years of landmark cases around the 1860s before photography was widely accepted in courts.

The case returns to Maricopa County Superior Court for a new sentencing hearing without the AI-generated video.