Disney Taps Character.AI CEO as First-Ever Tech Chief Amid AI Push
Disney has created its first companywide chief technology officer position as part of a broader strategy centered on storytelling, creativity, and unity. Karandeep Anand, former CEO of Character.AI, will join Disney on October 2nd as senior executive vice president and chief technology officer, reporting directly to CEO Josh D'Amaro.
Anand's hiring comes with three key priorities for Disney: keeping great storytelling at the forefront, using technology in service of creativity, and operating as a unified company. He will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data, and artificial intelligence platforms, product, and engineering across Disney.
The appointment also signals Disney's evolving relationship with generative AI, following a cease-and-desist letter sent to Character.AI over chatbots based on Disney characters in 2025. Anand has held senior roles at Brex, Facebook, and Microsoft, where he spent 15 years helping build the Azure cloud platform.