--- title: Disney’s first CTO led an AI startup it once accused of... description: Disney has named Karandeep Anand, the former CEO of Character.AI, as its first-ever chief technology officer. The appointment is notable because Disney sent... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/disney-s-first-cto-led-an-ai-startup-it-once-accused-of-copying-its-characters-9xuscsmmo twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Disney’s first CTO led an AI startup it once accused of copying its characters | daily.dev og:description: Disney has named Karandeep Anand, the former CEO of Character.AI, as its first-ever chief technology officer. The appointment is notable because Disney sent... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/disney-s-first-cto-led-an-ai-startup-it-once-accused-of-copying-its-characters-9xuscsmmo og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/9xuscsmmO.png og:image:alt: Disney’s first CTO led an AI startup it once accused of copying its characters og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Disney’s first CTO led an AI startup it once accused of copying its characters **[TechCrunch](https://daily.dev/sources/tc)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Disney has named Karandeep Anand, the former CEO of Character.AI, as its first-ever chief technology officer. The appointment is notable because Disney sent Character.AI a cease-and-desist letter in September 2025 over alleged use of its copyrighted characters, and the startup has also faced lawsuits alleging its chatbots encouraged self-harm and suicide among users. New Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro, who succeeded Bob Iger in March, chose Anand for the role, signaling a push to embrace new technology. Anand previously advised Character.AI's board before becoming CEO in May 2025, and spent years at Facebook and Microsoft before that. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Who did Disney hire as its first chief technology officer? Disney hired Karandeep Anand, the former CEO of Character.AI, as its first-ever chief technology officer. He was chosen by new Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro, who took over after Bob Iger stepped down in March. Anand previously served as a board adviser to Character.AI before becoming its CEO in May 2025, and earlier worked at Facebook and Microsoft. _Follow leadership moves shaping how entertainment companies adopt AI on daily.dev._ ### Why did Disney send Character.AI a cease-and-desist letter? Disney sent Character.AI a cease-and-desist letter in September 2025 accusing the company of hosting copyrighted characters from its franchises without permission. Character.AI lets users create and interact with AI-generated virtual characters, and Disney claimed some of these characters infringed on its intellectual property. _Track how AI character platforms and copyright disputes evolve on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Disney hits Google with cease-and-desist claiming ‘massive’ copyright infringement](https://daily.dev/posts/disney-hits-google-with-cease-and-desist-claiming-massive-copyright-infringement-vit10snsu) · TechCrunch · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Disney to launch AI-generated TV ads in July](https://daily.dev/posts/disney-to-launch-ai-generated-tv-ads-in-july-cl5jjl73e) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#genai](https://daily.dev/tags/genai), [#disney](https://daily.dev/tags/disney) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/disney-s-first-cto-led-an-ai-startup-it-once-accused-of-copying-its-characters-9xuscsmmo) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Disney’s first CTO led an AI startup it once accused of copying its characters","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/disney-s-first-cto-led-an-ai-startup-it-once-accused-of-copying-its-characters-9xuscsmmo","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/disney-s-first-cto-led-an-ai-startup-it-once-accused-of-copying-its-characters-9xuscsmmo"},"datePublished":"2026-09-18T18:01:06.963Z","dateModified":"2026-09-18T18:44:40.250Z","description":"Disney has named Karandeep Anand, the former CEO of Character.AI, as its first-ever chief technology officer. The appointment is notable because Disney sent...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6ad5a225a589feb3d52f9bd1725c5ef9?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6ad5a225a589feb3d52f9bd1725c5ef9?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCrunch","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCrunch","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tc","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/disney-s-first-cto-led-an-ai-startup-it-once-accused-of-copying-its-characters-9xuscsmmo","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"genai,disney","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCrunch","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Disney’s first CTO led an AI startup it once accused of copying its characters"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/disney-s-first-cto-led-an-ai-startup-it-once-accused-of-copying-its-characters-9xuscsmmo#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Who did Disney hire as its first chief technology officer?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Disney hired Karandeep Anand, the former CEO of Character.AI, as its first-ever chief technology officer. He was chosen by new Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro, who took over after Bob Iger stepped down in March. Anand previously served as a board adviser to Character.AI before becoming its CEO in May 2025, and earlier worked at Facebook and Microsoft. Follow leadership moves shaping how entertainment companies adopt AI on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did Disney send Character.AI a cease-and-desist letter?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Disney sent Character.AI a cease-and-desist letter in September 2025 accusing the company of hosting copyrighted characters from its franchises without permission. Character.AI lets users create and interact with AI-generated virtual characters, and Disney claimed some of these characters infringed on its intellectual property. Track how AI character platforms and copyright disputes evolve on daily.dev."}}]} ```