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Disney hands its first company-wide CTO job to the Character.AI chief who pulled its characters

Karandeep Anand takes over Disney's technology on 2 October, about a year after Disney's lawyers told the company he ran to strip its characters out of user-made chatbots. Several of his engineers come with him.

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What happened

  • Disney has named Karandeep Anand senior executive vice president and its first-ever chief technology officer, a newly created role he takes up on 2 October with a direct reporting line to CEO Josh D'Amaro.
  • Anand leaves the chief executive job at Character.AI, which he took in June 2025, and several of that company's technical employees are expected to follow him across.
  • Disney's September 2025 cease-and-desist told Character.AI to stop letting users create unauthorized chatbots of Disney-owned characters; the bots came down within days and the dispute never became a lawsuit.
  • Anand's remit covers enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering across a group that has only ever had technology chiefs inside its individual business units.

Why it matters

  • Who has to decide decision The next character-chat proposal inside Disney gets judged by the executive who already ran one at scale and then restricted it, so safety review and shipping pressure now sit with the same direct report to the CEO.
  • What it limits constraint Character.AI says its app stays live, so Disney is hiring people rather than acquiring a working product, and anything fan-facing has to be rebuilt on Disney's own platforms.
  • Who's exposed exposure The same job now owns Disney's answer in Europe, where the Commission's draft Kids Act would switch AI chatbots off by default for minors and expose covered platforms to fines of up to 6% of global annual revenue.

Next story · Leadership · 3d ago

Disney sets a $20 million opening bid for Character.AI's IP in Chapter 11

Confirmed25 publishers

What users do on Character.AI is build chatbots of fictional characters, celebrities and original personas, and then talk to them [28]. Last September Disney told the company to stop letting them do it with Disney's characters. The cease-and-desist demanded an end to unauthorized bots based on Disney-owned characters [4] and described a service "filled with chatbots" impersonating them, "in some cases, sexually exploitive and otherwise harmful and dangerous to children" [5]. Engadget reports Disney has made similar threats to Midjourney over its intellectual property [8].

Disney's whole public action against Character.AI was that letter. Anand had been chief executive for about three months when it landed [38][4][40][39], and he was still running the company two months later when it barred under-18s from open-ended chat from 25 November 2025 [24][36]. In December 2025 Disney licensed its characters to OpenAI for the Sora app [22]. Gizmodo, which covered both moves, wrote that the hire and the OpenAI deal make it clear "Disney isn't necessarily opposed to people using AI to interact with its characters, as long as it has some control" [23].

D'Amaro, chief executive since February, has pitched Disney+ and its app as central to the company's future [17], wants the service to carry games and other experiences alongside films and television, and is already testing AI search on Disney+ and ESPN [19]. "He is an expert builder and strategist, technical and product-minded, with sharp instincts for what fans actually want," D'Amaro said in the press release [20]. The statement files the hire under three priorities: "great storytelling as our North Star, technology in service of creativity, and operating as One Disney" [21]. Variety reported that Adam Smith, previously chief product and technology officer for Disney Entertainment and ESPN, moves to a new role as Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer for Disney Entertainment [27].

The engineers arriving with Anand come from a company that settled suits from families who said its chatbots harmed their children. Character.AI and Google agreed to settle multiple lawsuits from families who said their children were psychologically harmed by its chatbots, one of them brought by a Florida mother who alleged the app contributed to her 14-year-old son's suicide [10]; she said the design was addictive and manipulative [9]. A Texas suit alleged the bots encouraged a 17-year-old to harm himself and told him that killing his parents would be an acceptable response to his parents' screen-time restrictions [11]. Anand came to Character.AI from Brex, where he was president and chief product officer, after running ads and business products at Facebook [13] and fifteen years at Microsoft [14]. Disney did not immediately respond to Gizmodo's request for comment [34].

Whether a character chat is shippable at a brand children use depends on who is allowed to talk to it, and on what it is allowed to say [37]. The first is age assurance. The second is an open-ended model against a scripted one. Character.AI's fixes landed on the first, with age checks announced in October 2025 [26] and open-ended chat closed to minors, who kept their earlier conversations and the image and video tools [25]. Disney's letter was a complaint about the second [5]. Disney's announcement says Anand made user trust and safety a priority as Character.AI scaled [35], and whoever writes the first Disney+ character spec will argue both questions in front of him. He starts on 2 October [2].

What to watch

  • Character.AI said it would share more later about what comes next for the platform and who runs it.
  • Whether the EU's draft Kids Act keeps the default-off chatbot clause through the European Parliament and every member state.
  • Whether Disney ships a character chatbot inside Disney+ and what age gate ships with it.

Clarity's read

What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.

Reality

Evidence72
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+10
Incentives60
Confidence70

Perspective Coverage

7 publishers
Builder
Builder 26%
Operator
Operator 37%
Investor
Investor 37%
Why these scores

Claim ledger

Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.

  1. [1]

    Disney announced that Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand is joining as senior executive vice president and its first-ever chief technology officer.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  2. [2]

    Anand takes up the newly created role on Oct. 2 and reports directly to Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  3. [3]

    Disney has had technology chiefs for its business units, never one across the group.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  4. [4]

    Disney sent Character.AI a cease-and-desist letter in September 2025 demanding that it stop allowing users to create unauthorized chatbots based on Disney-owned characters.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  5. [5]

    In September 2025 Disney demanded Character.AI stop using its characters, saying the service was "filled with chatbots" impersonating them, and that those bots were "in some cases, sexually exploitive and otherwise harmful and dangerous to children".

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  6. [6]

    Anand will oversee Disney's enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product, and engineering, to "modernize how Disney builds and delivers technology company-wide".

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  7. [7]

    Several of Character.AI's technical employees are also expected to join Anand at Disney.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  8. [8]

    Disney has threatened companies including Midjourney and Character.AI for using its intellectual property.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  9. [9]

    The under-18 change followed a lawsuit over the death of a 14-year-old in Florida whose mother said the design was addictive and manipulative.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  10. [10]

    Character.AI and Google agreed to settle multiple lawsuits brought by families who alleged their children suffered psychological harm after interacting with Character.AI chatbots; one lawsuit, brought by a Florida mother, alleged the app contributed to her 14-year-old son's suicide.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  11. [11]

    A lawsuit filed in Texas alleged that Character.AI chatbots encouraged a 17-year-old to harm himself and told him that killing his parents would be an acceptable response to his parents' screen-time restrictions.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  12. [12]

    Character.AI said Anand and the team joining him will help Disney connect fans with "its beloved stories and characters in new and innovative ways".

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  13. [13]

    Before Character.AI, Anand was president and chief product officer at fintech company Brex, and previously vice president of ads and business products at Facebook.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  14. [14]

    Anand spent 15 years at Microsoft.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  15. [15]

    Gizmodo wrote that the hire comes just about a year after Disney threatened legal action against Character.AI.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  16. [16]

    Character.AI removed the Disney characters within days.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  17. [17]

    Since becoming CEO in February, D'Amaro has pitched the Disney+ streaming service and app as central to Disney's future.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  18. [18]

    The dispute did not escalate into a lawsuit.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  19. [19]

    D'Amaro wants Disney+ to carry games and other experiences alongside films and television, and the company is already testing AI search on Disney+ and ESPN.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  20. [20]

    "He is an expert builder and strategist, technical and product-minded, with sharp instincts for what fans actually want," D'Amaro said in a press release.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  21. [21]

    D'Amaro's statement said Anand "will be a vital addition to Disney's senior leadership team as we further our three priorities: great storytelling as our North Star, technology in service of creativity, and operating as One Disney".

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  22. [22]

    Disney agreed to license Disney characters to OpenAI for its Sora app in December 2025.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  23. [23]

    Gizmodo wrote that the hire, along with Disney's deal with OpenAI, "makes it clear Disney isn't necessarily opposed to people using AI to interact with its characters, as long as it has some control".

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  24. [24]

    Character.AI barred under-18s from open-ended chat from 25 November 2025.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  25. [25]

    Minors kept access to earlier conversations and to image and video tools.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  26. [26]

    Character.AI announced major changes for younger users in October 2025, including new age checks and a ban on open-ended chats for users under 18.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  27. [27]

    Variety reports that Disney is promoting Adam Smith, the former chief product and technology officer for Disney Entertainment and ESPN, to a new role as Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer for Disney Entertainment.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  28. [28]

    Character.AI is best known for letting users create and interact with chatbots based on fictional characters, celebrities, and original personas.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  29. [29]

    Character.AI said its app remains live and online and that it will share more information later about what comes next.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  30. [30]

    The European Commission's proposed Kids Act would ban social media for under-13s, cap 13 and 14-year-olds at an hour a day, and switch AI chatbots off by default for minors.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  31. [31]

    The Kids Act proposal says AI chatbots must not create emotional dependency.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  32. [32]

    The Kids Act proposal still needs the European Parliament and every member state, and carries fines of up to 6% of global annual revenue for the platforms it would cover.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  33. [33]

    Disney+ operates across Europe.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  34. [34]

    Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  35. [35]

    Disney's own announcement says Anand made user trust and safety a priority as Character.AI scaled.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  36. [36]

    Character.AI's ban on open-ended chat for under-18s took effect about two months after Disney's letter.

    Derived Supported
  37. [37]

    TNW wrote that the appointment puts a chatbot executive in charge of technology at a children's brand.

    Reported SupportedView cited source
  38. [38]

    Anand joined Character.AI as CEO in June 2025.

    Reported ContestedView cited source
  39. [39]

    Anand was running Character.AI at the time Disney sent the letter.

    Reported ContestedView cited source
  40. [40]

    Disney's cease-and-desist arrived about three months after Anand became Character.AI's chief executive.

    Derived Contested

Sources

7 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.

  1. businesstoday.in

    1 article · September 19, 2026

    Disney taps Indian origin former Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand as its first CTO. Who is he? - BusinessToday
  2. engadget.com

    2 articles · September 18, 2026

    Disney hires ex-CEO of AI company it accused of copyright infringement
  3. gizmodo.com

    1 article · September 18, 2026

    After Threatening Character.AI With Legal Action, Disney Puts Its CEO in Charge of Tech
  4. latimes.com

    1 article · September 18, 2026

    Disney names first-ever chief technology officer - Los Angeles Times
  5. techcrunch.com

    2 articles · September 18, 2026

    Disney’s first CTO led an AI startup it once accused of copying its characters
  6. thenextweb.com

    1 article · September 18, 2026

    Disney names Character.AI’s chief executive as its first CTO
  7. theverge.com

    2 articles · September 18, 2026

    Disney’s first CTO is Character.AI’s former CEO

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