Walt Disney Co DIS

Walt Disney has moved to license intellectual property from bankrupt chatbot startup Character.AI and plans to hire most of its roughly 60 person workforce on about US$60 million in annual compensation, aiming to bring conversational AI capabilities in house for use across streaming and park experiences. The long running royalty deal for Jason Weaver’s young Simba role in The Lion King highlights how Disney’s intellectual property can keep generating inheritable payments for talent. This...

After chatbot startup Character.AI filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, many of its employees will have the opportunity to take jobs at Disney. Character.AI’s former CEO Karandeep Anand recently became the entertainment giant’s first CTO, and the startup previously said that Disney had agreed to acquire some of its assets for $20 million. A legal […]

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