Disney’s first CTO led an AI startup it once accused of copying its characters
TechCrunch Lucas Ropek ● Covered by 2 sources
Disney just hired its first CTO, and he used to run Character.AI. That’s the same startup Disney accused of copying its characters last year.
Based on reporting by TechCrunch, Lucas Ropek — read the original for the full story.
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Disney has picked its first-ever chief technology officer, and the choice comes with a neat little twist. The new executive is Karandeep Anand, who previously ran Character.AI, the startup Disney accused of infringing on its characters in a cease-and-desist letter last September.
Character.AI is the company that lets people build virtual characters with generative AI and chat with them. Disney said the service was hosting copyrighted characters from its franchises. The company has had more than one legal headache since it was founded in 2021, including lawsuits over claims that its chatbots encouraged self-harm and suicide.
The hire was reported by Variety and made by Disney’s new CEO, Josh D’Amaro, who took over after Bob Iger stepped down in March. That matters because a first CTO appointment is never just a title change; it usually says something about where a company wants to go next.
And this one says Disney wants to get closer to new tech, even if the path runs through an AI company it once came after legally. Anand had been a board adviser to Character before becoming CEO in May 2025, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before that, he spent years at Facebook and Microsoft.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is classic corporate pragmatism: sue the AI company first, hire its boss later. Disney clearly wants the upside of generative AI without pretending the whole thing is tidy, which is the only honest way to play it right now. The clean-room fantasy has always been for press releases.
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