The Pulse
Disney Names Character.AI CEO Its First Company-Wide CTO
Disney has appointed Karandeep Anand, the outgoing CEO of Character.AI, as its first company-wide chief technology officer. Anand will oversee enterprise technology, data, AI platforms, product and engineering beginning October 2.
AI.info Team ·
“Karandeep brings a rare mix of experience across infrastructure, consumer technology and AI and will be a vital addition to Disney’s senior leadership team.”
Josh D’Amaro, chief executive officer, The Walt Disney Company
Disney Creates a Company-Wide Technology Post
The Walt Disney Company names Karandeep Anand, who most recently served as chief executive of Character.AI, as its first company-wide chief technology officer. The newly created role carries the title of senior executive vice president, reports directly to Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro and begins October 2.
Disney says Anand will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering. He will work across the company’s segment technology teams, bringing responsibilities that span Disney Entertainment, ESPN and Disney Experiences under a single senior technology leader.
The appointment is part of D’Amaro’s effort to give technology a larger role in how Disney operates and serves its audiences. The company says its focus includes improving the way it builds and delivers technology across the business, while keeping storytelling as the central priority.
Character.AI’s Technical Team Is Expected to Follow
A number of Character.AI’s technical employees are expected to join Anand at Disney. The company does not identify the employees or specify how many will move, but says the group will help strengthen Disney’s technology capabilities across its businesses.
Disney also points to Disney+ as the digital centerpiece of its effort to build more connected relationships with fans. Anand’s remit covers the systems and teams that support that effort, along with the company’s broader infrastructure, data and AI work.
Anand Brings Microsoft, Meta and Brex Experience
Anand led Character.AI through a period of strong growth, with Disney describing the platform as one of the world’s most engaged consumer-AI audiences. The company also highlights his focus on user trust and safety as the service expanded.
Before joining Character.AI, Anand was president and chief product officer at financial technology company Brex. He previously held several leadership roles at Meta, most recently as vice president of Ads & Business Products for Facebook.
Earlier in his career, Anand spent 15 years at Microsoft in senior product and engineering positions and worked on the team that built the Azure platform. He holds a computer science degree from the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad.
Disney Frames Technology as Support for Creative Work
D’Amaro says Anand’s background combines infrastructure, consumer products and artificial intelligence with experience in strategy and execution. Disney presents the CTO role less as a standalone AI post than as a company-wide position covering the systems, products and engineering groups that support its creative and commercial operations.
Anand says he has admired Disney for combining storytelling with technology and will focus on helping the company connect fans with its stories and characters in new ways. His appointment takes effect on October 2, when Disney’s first company-wide CTO formally joins the senior leadership team.