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Disney names former Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand as chief technology officer
Sep 21, 2026
đź“Ť Phliadelphia,PA, USA
### Disney Names Former Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand as Chief Technology Officer
The Walt Disney Company has appointed Karandeep Anand, the former chief executive of artificial intelligence startup Character.AI, as its new chief technology officer, placing him in charge of technology, engineering and AI platforms across the entertainment giant.
Anand will report directly to Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, who assumed the company’s top executive position earlier this year after succeeding longtime CEO Bob Iger. The appointment comes as Disney continues to expand its focus on artificial intelligence and modernize technology operations across its businesses.
Several members of Character.AI’s technical organization are also expected to join Anand at Disney. In his new role, he will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data, artificial intelligence platforms, product development and engineering.
Anand’s move to Disney is notable because the company and Character.AI were involved in a copyright dispute roughly a year ago. Disney accused the AI company of “blatantly infringing” its copyrights and sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding the removal of Disney characters from Character.AI’s platform. Character.AI subsequently complied with the request.
Before becoming Character.AI’s chief executive, Anand served as president and chief product officer at financial technology company Brex. He previously spent several years at Facebook, where his most recent position was vice president of ads and business products.
Anand also spent 15 years at Microsoft, holding senior positions in product and engineering. During his time at the company, he was involved with teams working on Azure, Microsoft’s cloud-computing platform.
D’Amaro said Anand brings experience spanning infrastructure, consumer technology and artificial intelligence and described him as an important addition to Disney’s senior leadership team.
The Disney CEO said Anand combines technical and product expertise with an understanding of consumer preferences and has experience building technology organizations. D’Amaro also highlighted Anand’s interest in Disney and his perspective on how technology can support creative work.
As CTO, Anand will work across Disney’s technology organizations with the goal of modernizing the way the company develops, manages and delivers technology. His responsibilities will span enterprise systems, infrastructure, data, AI platforms, products and engineering.
The creation of the CTO position marks a new addition to Disney’s corporate technology leadership structure. The company had not previously maintained a chief technology officer position at the enterprise level.
Before Anand’s appointment, Adam Smith was among Disney’s senior technology leaders. Disney promoted Smith to chairman of direct-to-consumer for Disney Entertainment shortly before announcing Anand’s appointment.
Smith joined Disney in 2024 after serving as vice president of product management at YouTube. He initially became chief product and technology officer for Disney Entertainment and ESPN and later served as co-president of direct-to-consumer alongside Joe Earley.
Earley has since moved into a newly established position as president of Disney Entertainment Television franchise and content strategy.
For Anand, the move represents a return to the entertainment and consumer technology space at a company he has long admired. He said Disney’s ability to combine storytelling with technology was a major reason he was excited about joining the organization.
Anand said he looks forward to working with Disney’s creative teams and building on the company’s existing technology capabilities. He also said his goal is to help Disney find new ways to connect audiences around the world with its stories and characters.
His appointment comes as entertainment companies increasingly explore artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, data platforms and other emerging technologies to support both creative and business operations.
At Disney, Anand will now be responsible for coordinating many of those efforts across the company, bringing together technology, engineering and AI capabilities under a newly established enterprise-level CTO role.
The Walt Disney Company has appointed Karandeep Anand, the former chief executive of artificial intelligence startup Character.AI, as its new chief technology officer, placing him in charge of technology, engineering and AI platforms across the entertainment giant.
Anand will report directly to Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, who assumed the company’s top executive position earlier this year after succeeding longtime CEO Bob Iger. The appointment comes as Disney continues to expand its focus on artificial intelligence and modernize technology operations across its businesses.
Several members of Character.AI’s technical organization are also expected to join Anand at Disney. In his new role, he will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data, artificial intelligence platforms, product development and engineering.
Anand’s move to Disney is notable because the company and Character.AI were involved in a copyright dispute roughly a year ago. Disney accused the AI company of “blatantly infringing” its copyrights and sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding the removal of Disney characters from Character.AI’s platform. Character.AI subsequently complied with the request.
Before becoming Character.AI’s chief executive, Anand served as president and chief product officer at financial technology company Brex. He previously spent several years at Facebook, where his most recent position was vice president of ads and business products.
Anand also spent 15 years at Microsoft, holding senior positions in product and engineering. During his time at the company, he was involved with teams working on Azure, Microsoft’s cloud-computing platform.
D’Amaro said Anand brings experience spanning infrastructure, consumer technology and artificial intelligence and described him as an important addition to Disney’s senior leadership team.
The Disney CEO said Anand combines technical and product expertise with an understanding of consumer preferences and has experience building technology organizations. D’Amaro also highlighted Anand’s interest in Disney and his perspective on how technology can support creative work.
As CTO, Anand will work across Disney’s technology organizations with the goal of modernizing the way the company develops, manages and delivers technology. His responsibilities will span enterprise systems, infrastructure, data, AI platforms, products and engineering.
The creation of the CTO position marks a new addition to Disney’s corporate technology leadership structure. The company had not previously maintained a chief technology officer position at the enterprise level.
Before Anand’s appointment, Adam Smith was among Disney’s senior technology leaders. Disney promoted Smith to chairman of direct-to-consumer for Disney Entertainment shortly before announcing Anand’s appointment.
Smith joined Disney in 2024 after serving as vice president of product management at YouTube. He initially became chief product and technology officer for Disney Entertainment and ESPN and later served as co-president of direct-to-consumer alongside Joe Earley.
Earley has since moved into a newly established position as president of Disney Entertainment Television franchise and content strategy.
For Anand, the move represents a return to the entertainment and consumer technology space at a company he has long admired. He said Disney’s ability to combine storytelling with technology was a major reason he was excited about joining the organization.
Anand said he looks forward to working with Disney’s creative teams and building on the company’s existing technology capabilities. He also said his goal is to help Disney find new ways to connect audiences around the world with its stories and characters.
His appointment comes as entertainment companies increasingly explore artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, data platforms and other emerging technologies to support both creative and business operations.
At Disney, Anand will now be responsible for coordinating many of those efforts across the company, bringing together technology, engineering and AI capabilities under a newly established enterprise-level CTO role.
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