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

Sept 18 (Reuters) - 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.

(Reporting by Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet ‌Das)

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