Disney Appoints First Chief Technology Officer

Disney has named Karandeep Anand, the former CEO of AI startup Character.AI, as its first-ever chief technology officer. Anand will assume the role on October 2, reporting directly to CEO Josh D’Amaro. He will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product, and engineering.

In September 2025, Disney issued a cease-and-desist letter to Character.AI, alleging the platform infringed on its copyrights by allowing users to create unauthorized chatbots based on Disney characters.