Disney Names Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand as New Chief Technology Officer

The Walt Disney Company is making a major move on the technology front, naming Karandeep Anand as its new Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. The newly created role will officially begin October 2, with Anand reporting directly to Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro. Anand most recently served as CEO of Character.AI and brings extensive experience in artificial intelligence, consumer technology, infrastructure, product development, and engineering.

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In his new position, Anand will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product, and engineering across Disney. The goal is to create a more connected technology strategy across the company while continuing to modernize the systems behind Disney’s businesses. D’Amaro said Anand’s experience across infrastructure, consumer technology, and AI will help support Disney’s priorities of storytelling, technology in service of creativity, and operating more closely as one company.

The appointment also comes as Disney continues putting more emphasis on direct relationships with its audience and a more connected digital experience, with Disney+ serving as a major centerpiece. A number of members of Character.AI’s technical team are also expected to join Disney alongside Anand.

While the announcement is focused on company-wide technology rather than any specific theme park initiatives, the move could have an impact across everything from streaming and digital products to the behind-the-scenes technology supporting Disney’s parks and resorts.

Anand has a long résumé in the technology world. Before leading Character.AI, he served as President and Chief Product Officer at Brex and held several leadership roles at Meta, including Vice President of Ads & Business Products. Earlier in his career, Anand spent 15 years at Microsoft and was part of the team that helped build the Azure cloud platform.

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Disney has increasingly leaned into AI-powered tools and digital experiences in recent years, and creating a dedicated CTO position gives the company a single executive overseeing much of that work moving forward.

If all this talk of Disney’s future has you thinking about your next Walt Disney World vacation, our partners at Get Away Today can help you put together a trip while Disney keeps building what comes next.