Disney Appoints First CTO, Hiring Former CEO of AI Startup It Accused of IP Infringement

In a notable executive appointment, Disney has hired its first-ever chief technology officer, naming Karandeep Anand, the former chief executive of generative AI startup Character.AI, to the role. The hire comes despite a history of legal friction between the two organizations. In September 2025, Disney issued a cease and desist letter to Character.AI, accusing the platform of infringing on its intellectual property by hosting copyrighted characters from Disney franchises. Character.AI, founded in 2021 to allow users to build and converse with virtual characters, has also been subject to lawsuits alleging its chatbots encouraged self-harm and suicide. Anand was selected for the newly created position by Disney's new CEO, Josh D’Amaro, who took over after former chief executive Bob Iger stepped down in March. The appointment signals an executive push under D’Amaro to embrace and integrate new technologies. According to his LinkedIn profile, Anand served as a board adviser to Character.AI before becoming its CEO in May 2025. His previous experience includes a tenure at Facebook between 2015 and 2021, as well as 15 years at Microsoft.