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TechCrunch · September 19, 2026 · On the brief until October 3, 2026

Disney’s first CTO led an AI startup it once accused of copying its characters

Intellectual Property LawCorporate LawManagement
THE AI ANGLE
Generating interactive virtual characters from copyrighted franchises

Disney has appointed Karandeep Anand, the former CEO of generative AI startup Character.AI, as its first-ever chief technology officer under new CEO Josh D’Amaro. The move is significant because Disney had previously sent Character.AI a cease-and-desist letter for allegedly infringing on its copyrighted characters. For instructors, this highlights a dramatic corporate pivot from aggressively litigating against generative AI platforms to recruiting their top leadership to spearhead internal technology strategy.

Summary written by AI Business Lens with an AI model from the article at techcrunch.com. It is not the article, and the publisher has not reviewed it. For publishers.

THE TEACHING ANGLE
This scenario provides a compelling case study on the strategic tension between strictly enforcing intellectual property rights against AI startups and co-opting executive talent from those same adversarial companies to drive corporate innovation.

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