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Disney’s first CTO is Character.AI’s former CEO

Written and edited by the WorldPing NewsdeskPublished Updated Original reporting: The Verge

What happened

You would think that a multimedia conglomerate as large as Disney would have a few chief technology officers by now, but the company has just appointed someone to the position for the very first time.

Key facts

  • You would think that a multimedia conglomerate as large as Disney would have a few chief technology officers by now, but the company has just appointed someone to the position for the very first time.
  • Reported by The Verge and published Fri, 18 Sep 2026 18:54:39 UTC.

Why it matters

Platform, chip and AI decisions set the terms other companies have to build on, so a single announcement here tends to ripple through products, supply chains and regulation.

What to watch next

  • Availability, pricing and rollout regions
  • Independent testing or verification of the claims made
  • Responses from regulators and competing platforms

Coverage timeline

When each newsroom published on this story, oldest first — all times UTC.

  1. The Transformers: The Movie re-review: Still the best (and it's not close)

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

  3. Disney’s first CTO is Character.AI’s former CEO

  4. Android 17 is the first since 3.x to add new APIs without releasing to the AOSP

  5. Anthropic’s first embedded evaluator is … Accenture?

Sources

The original report was published by The Verge. WorldPing does not claim that reporting — this page summarises and contextualises it.

Read the full report at The Verge

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