Disney is hiring Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand as its first company-wide CTO.
Why it matters: The move puts technology leadership closer to Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro as AI reshapes media and product strategy. It also signals Disney is formalizing a broader enterprise role beyond legacy CIO functions.
- Disney announced the new CTO role on Sept. 18, 2026, with Anand starting Oct. 2, 2026.
- Anand will report directly to CEO Josh D'Amaro and oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering.
- Disney said some Character.AI technical staff are expected to join the company.
- Character.AI said its app remains live and confirmed Anand's departure in a Sept. 18 blog post.
Disney is creating a company-wide chief technology officer role and naming Karandeep Anand, then CEO of Character.AI, to fill it effective Oct. 2.
The company said Anand will report to CEO Josh D'Amaro and oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering. Disney's release framed the move as part of D'Amaro's priorities: great storytelling, technology in service of creativity and operating as One Disney.
Anand has also held technology roles at Meta and Microsoft and was president and chief product officer at Brex, according to Disney. The company said he earned a computer science degree from the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad.
Character.AI confirmed Anand's departure in a company blog post and said its app remains live. Disney also said some Character.AI technical staff are expected to join Disney, though it did not detail how many or which functions they would cover.
The appointment comes after Disney previously sent Character.AI a cease-and-desist letter in September 2025 over unauthorized use of Disney copyrighted characters. Reuters reported the hire as AI and industry consolidation continue reshaping media.
By the numbers
- Sept. 18, 2026 - Disney announced the new CTO role and Anand's hire.
- Oct. 2, 2026 - Anand's start date at Disney.
- Sept. 2025 - Disney previously sent Character.AI a cease-and-desist letter over unauthorized character use.
Yes, but: Disney has not said how the new CTO role will affect existing technology reporting lines or which Character.AI staff may follow Anand to the company.
What's next: Anand is set to begin in the role on Oct. 2, 2026.