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Disney has hired Karandeep Anand, who recently led Character.AI, to serve as the company's first chief technology officer, reporting directly to CEO Josh D'Amaro. Anand will oversee enterprise technology and Disney's data and AI platforms, and is bringing several former Character.AI engineers with him. Disney is also promoting Adam Smith to a new Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer role for Disney Entertainment.
Disney has appointed Karandeep Anand, the former CEO of Character.AI, as its first-ever chief technology officer. The move is notable because Disney had sent Character.AI a cease-and-desist letter in September 2025 accusing the startup of hosting unauthorized versions of its copyrighted characters. New Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro made the hire; Anand previously worked at Facebook and Microsoft before joining Character.AI as a board adviser and later CEO.
Disney announced it has hired Karandeep Anand, former CEO of Character.AI, to fill a newly created role as senior executive vice president and chief technology officer, effective October 2. Anand will report directly to CEO Josh D'Amaro and oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data, AI platforms, product and engineering across the company.
Disney has established a new Chief Technology Officer position and named Karandeep Anand, currently head of Character.AI, to fill it. Anand will report directly to CEO Josh D'Amaro, signaling elevated priority for technology within the company's leadership structure.
Disney has hired Karandeep Anand, who spent just over a year as CEO of chatbot startup Character.AI, to become the company's first chief technology officer. Anand will report to new CEO Josh D'Amaro and oversee Disney's infrastructure, product, engineering, and data/AI platforms teams.