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

迪士尼首位首席技术官曾领导一家被其指控抄袭角色的 AI 初创公司

Disney has hired its first-ever chief technology officer and in a curious twist, the new executive hails from an AI startup that the Magic Kingdom previously accused of infringing on its IP. 迪士尼聘请了其史上首位首席技术官，而令人玩味的是，这位新高管来自一家曾被“魔法王国”指控侵犯其知识产权的 AI 初创公司。

Karandeep Anand is the former CEO of Character.AI, a company that has weathered numerous legal problems since it was founded in 2021. One of those legal problems arose in September 2025, when Disney sent the company a cease and desist letter accusing it of infringing on its beloved characters. Karandeep Anand 是 Character.AI 的前首席执行官，该公司自 2021 年成立以来一直深陷各种法律纠纷。其中一起法律纠纷发生在 2025 年 9 月，当时迪士尼向该公司发送了一封停止侵权函，指控其侵犯了迪士尼旗下备受喜爱的角色版权。

Character.AI allows users to create distinct virtual characters with generative AI and talk and interact with them. Disney previously claimed that the company was hosting copyrighted characters from its franchises. In addition to Disney’s accusations, Character.AI has also been sued over allegations that the company’s chatbots encouraged users to commit self-harm and suicide. Character.AI 允许用户利用生成式 AI 创建独特的虚拟角色，并与它们进行对话和互动。迪士尼此前曾声称，该公司在其平台上托管了来自迪士尼旗下特许经营权的受版权保护角色。除了迪士尼的指控外，Character.AI 还曾因其聊天机器人被指诱导用户自残和自杀而遭到起诉。

Variety reports that Anand was chosen for the role by new Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, who took over after former company chief Bob Iger stepped down in March. The hiring suggests D’Amaro wants the company to embrace new technologies. 据《综艺》(Variety) 报道，Anand 是由迪士尼新任首席执行官 Josh D’Amaro 选中的。D’Amaro 在前任首席执行官 Bob Iger 于 3 月卸任后接管了公司。此次聘任表明，D’Amaro 希望公司能够积极拥抱新技术。

Anand formerly served as a board adviser to Character.AI before becoming CEO in May 2025, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also worked at Facebook between 2015 and 2021 and, before that, spent 15 years at Microsoft. 根据其领英 (LinkedIn) 个人资料显示，Anand 在 2025 年 5 月出任首席执行官之前，曾担任 Character.AI 的董事会顾问。他还曾在 2015 年至 2021 年期间效力于 Facebook，在此之前，他在微软工作了 15 年。