Disney Names Karandeep Anand, Ex-Character.AI CEO, as First CTO

ManagementProduct / Tech
โดย Variety·US·Read original
Summary · why it matters

Disney has hired Karandeep Anand, the former chief executive of Character.AI, as its first-ever chief technology officer. Anand was chosen for the role by new Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro, who took over after former company chief Bob Iger stepped down in March, and Variety reports the hiring signals D'Amaro's intent to embrace new technologies. The appointment is a curious twist because Disney sent Character.AI a cease and desist letter in September 2025 accusing the startup of infringing on its beloved characters; Character.AI, founded in 2021, lets users create distinct virtual characters with generative AI and interact with them, and Disney claimed it was hosting copyrighted characters from its franchises. Character.AI has also been sued over allegations that its chatbots encouraged users to commit self-harm and suicide. Anand previously served as a board adviser to Character before becoming CEO in May 2025, worked at Facebook between 2015 and 2021, and spent 15 years at Microsoft before that.

Impact on stocks 3

Communication Services▲ · 1 stocks
Walt Disney Company
DIS
± MixedTechnologyrelevance

Disney hires its first-ever CTO, ex-Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand, signaling intent to embrace new technologies.

Spatial Computing / AR/VR▲ · 1 stocks
Artificial Intelligence▲ · 1 stocks

Off-coverage companies 1

Character.AIPrivate± Mixed
Regulationrelevance

Context: Disney previously sent Character.AI a cease-and-desist over copyright and the startup faces lawsuits, but the news is Anand's departure to Disney.

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