Disney Bids on Character.ai Assets as Chatbot Provider Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

By Corbin Bolies

Corbin Bolies

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Disney poached the CEO of Character.ai last month for a new chief technology officer role — and now, a month later, many of the company’s assets may follow

Character.ai, the controversial chatbot company known for letting its users generate and engage with a suite of original and user-generated characters, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday to begin a “value-maximizing sale” of potentially all of its assets. As part of the filing, Disney Worldwide Services, a House of Mouse subsidiary, has agreed to pay $20 million to become the stalking horse bidder for a “non-exclusive perpetual license of certain Company intellectual property and certain Company claims.”

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