Disney offers jobs to Character AI workforce following bankruptcy filing

Entertainment giant Disney has agreed to offer jobs to a majority of staff at Character AI after the chatbot startup filed for bankruptcy earlier this week. TechCrunch AI and TechCrunch both report that the vast majority of Character AI employees offered roles at Disney have accepted them. UA NEWS reports that Disney has agreed to offer positions to at least 60 workers. [1][2][6]

The hiring arrangement follows a legal filing spotted by Bloomberg regarding an asset deal between the two entities. TechCrunch AI reports that Disney previously agreed to acquire select assets from the startup for 20 million dollars. However, financial details vary across outlets, with TradingView describing a 60 million dollar deal, while BigGo Finance reports Disney will pay 180 million dollars over three years for the bankrupt company's talent. [1][3][5]

Former Character AI Chief Executive Officer Karandeep Anand recently joined Disney as its first Chief Technology Officer, according to TechCrunch AI. Startup Fortune notes that Disney previously threatened legal action against the former startup executive prior to his appointment. [1][4]

Character AI was founded in November 2021 by former Google engineers Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, who had worked on Google's LaMDA conversational AI initiative. The Menlo Park, California-based startup developed personalized, dialogue-driven AI models that allowed users to create and interact with customized characters. [9]

TechCrunch AI reports that Disney's current arrangement acts as a stalking horse bid. This legal structure means that alternative companies could still step forward to submit a higher offer for Character AI's assets. [1]