Disney names Character.AI's Karandeep Anand its first tech chief

Sept 18 : Walt Disney on Friday named outsider Karandeep Anand its first chief technology officer, as AI and sweeping industry consolidation disrupt the media landscape.

• Anand, who most recently served as CEO of generative AI chatbot service Character.AI, will join Disney effective October 2.

• He will report directly to CEO Josh D'Amaro, the theme parks veteran who took the reins from Bob Iger in March.

• A number of Character.AI's technical staff are expected to follow Anand to Disney, where he will oversee enterprise technology, AI platforms and engineering across the company's business segments.

• Character.AI has been under legal scrutiny, including a May lawsuit over chatbot impersonation of doctors, a settlement of a wrongful-death suit in January tied to a teen's suicide and a Disney cease-and-desist over unauthorized use of its characters in September 2025.

• Before Character.AI, Anand was president and chief product officer at fintech company Brex. He also held senior roles at Meta's Facebook and spent 15 years at Microsoft, where he helped build the Azure platform.

• On Thursday, Disney named insider Adam Smith chairman of its streaming business and created a new television franchise role for Joe Earley, sharpening focus on its direct-to-consumer platforms such as Disney+ and Hulu.