Product Reports disagree 7 publishers3 min readPublished Sep 18, 2026, 2:03 PM PDTUpdated Oct 10, 2026, 7:21 AM PDT

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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Photograph accompanying Disney hands its first company-wide CTO job to the Character.AI chief who pulled its characters — Photo: thenextweb.com

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

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.
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.
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.

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: Insufficient
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]
Disney announced that Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand is joining as senior executive vice president and its first-ever chief technology officer.
ReportedSupported5 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[2]
Anand takes up the newly created role on Oct. 2 and reports directly to Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro.
ReportedSupported5 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[3]
Disney has had technology chiefs for its business units, never one across the group.
ReportedSupported5 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[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.
ReportedSupported5 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[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".
ReportedSupported5 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[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".
ReportedSupported4 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[7]
Several of Character.AI's technical employees are also expected to join Anand at Disney.
ReportedSupported4 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[8]
Disney has threatened companies including Midjourney and Character.AI for using its intellectual property.
ReportedSupported5 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[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.
ReportedSupported4 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[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.
ReportedSupported4 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[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.
ReportedSupported4 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[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".
ReportedSupported4 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[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.
ReportedSupported3 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[14]
Anand spent 15 years at Microsoft.
ReportedSupported3 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[15]
Gizmodo wrote that the hire comes just about a year after Disney threatened legal action against Character.AI.
ReportedSupported5 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[16]
Character.AI removed the Disney characters within days.
ReportedSupported3 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[17]
Since becoming CEO in February, D'Amaro has pitched the Disney+ streaming service and app as central to Disney's future.
ReportedSupported4 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[18]
The dispute did not escalate into a lawsuit.
ReportedSupported3 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[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.
ReportedSupported4 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[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.
ReportedSupported3 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[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".
ReportedSupported3 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[22]
Disney agreed to license Disney characters to OpenAI for its Sora app in December 2025.
ReportedSupported3 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[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".
ReportedSupported3 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[24]
Character.AI barred under-18s from open-ended chat from 25 November 2025.
ReportedSupported2 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[25]
Minors kept access to earlier conversations and to image and video tools.
ReportedSupported2 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[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.
ReportedSupported2 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[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.
ReportedSupported2 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[28]
Character.AI is best known for letting users create and interact with chatbots based on fictional characters, celebrities, and original personas.
ReportedSupported2 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[29]
Character.AI said its app remains live and online and that it will share more information later about what comes next.
ReportedSupportedView cited source
[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.
ReportedSupportedView cited source
[31]
The Kids Act proposal says AI chatbots must not create emotional dependency.
ReportedSupportedView cited source
[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.
ReportedSupportedView cited source
[33]
Disney+ operates across Europe.
ReportedSupportedView cited source
[34]
Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ReportedSupportedView cited source
[35]
Disney's own announcement says Anand made user trust and safety a priority as Character.AI scaled.
ReportedSupportedView cited source
[36]
Character.AI's ban on open-ended chat for under-18s took effect about two months after Disney's letter.
DerivedSupported2 sources— create a free account to open them
[37]
TNW wrote that the appointment puts a chatbot executive in charge of technology at a children's brand.
ReportedSupportedView cited source
[38]
Anand joined Character.AI as CEO in June 2025.
ReportedContested4 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[39]
Anand was running Character.AI at the time Disney sent the letter.
ReportedContested4 sources— create a free account to open them View cited source
[40]
Disney's cease-and-desist arrived about three months after Anand became Character.AI's chief executive.
DerivedContested4 sources— create a free account to open them

Sources

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

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
engadget.com
2 articles · September 18, 2026
Disney hires ex-CEO of AI company it accused of copyright infringement
gizmodo.com
1 article · September 18, 2026
After Threatening Character.AI With Legal Action, Disney Puts Its CEO in Charge of Tech
latimes.com
1 article · September 18, 2026
Disney names first-ever chief technology officer - Los Angeles Times
techcrunch.com
2 articles · September 18, 2026
Disney’s first CTO led an AI startup it once accused of copying its characters
thenextweb.com
1 article · September 18, 2026
Disney names Character.AI’s chief executive as its first CTO
theverge.com
2 articles · September 18, 2026
Disney’s first CTO is Character.AI’s former CEO

Ask Clarity

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Clarity analysis

How the coverage leans and what the record actually supports. Read the methodology

Perspective Coverage

How much of the coverage speaks to builders, operators and investors. It measures emphasis, not whether the story is right.

Builder26%

For engineers the useful detail is the remit. One executive now runs infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering across a company that, as The Next Web reports, previously had technology chiefs only in its business units. A group of Character.AI's technical staff comes with him, and The Verge notes he pushed Character.AI into microdramas. What the team will build at Disney is not reported, beyond The Next Web's mention of AI search tests on Disney+ and ESPN.

Reality

Evidence, adoption, hype gap, incentives and confidence, each read independently from the current record on the scale shown beneath it. How these are measured.

Evidence72: 0100
Core facts well corroborated
Six publishers agree on Anand's title, start date, reporting line and remit, all drawn from Disney's release. The backstory is also widely carried: the September 2025 letter, the removal of the characters, the lawsuits. Weaker ground is the European Kids Act detail and the trust-and-safety credit, both reported only by The Next Web, and the month Anand took over Character.AI, where Gizmodo and TechCrunch disagree.
AdoptionInsufficient: Not measurable from a hiring story
This is an executive appointment. The only deployment detail is The Next Web's mention of AI search tests on Disney+ and ESPN, without scale or results, and Engadget's note of a Sora licence it calls failed. Neither gives a basis for an adoption score.
Hype gap+10: −100 understated0 aligned+100 overstated
Mostly aligned, some framing stretch
Headlines lean on the irony of the hire, but the facts under them are dated and checkable. The stretch is interpretive. Gizmodo's view that Disney wants AI use of its characters under its control, and The Next Web's link to the EU proposal, are the publishers' own arguments; Disney has said neither.
Incentives60: 0100
Praise comes from the parties to the deal
Almost every account of Anand's suitability originates with an interested party. D'Amaro's praise is from Disney's release, the trust-and-safety credit is from Disney's announcement, and the line about connecting fans with Disney characters is Character.AI's. Disney did not respond to Gizmodo's request for comment.
Confidence70: 0100
Confident on the hire, less on side details
The appointment itself is not in doubt. Smaller points are unsettled: when Anand became Character.AI's chief, when D'Amaro became CEO (February per Engadget, while TechCrunch dates Iger's exit to March), and what happened to the OpenAI arrangement, which Engadget and The Verge call failed without detail.

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