Disney has agreed to hire more than 60 employees from Character.AI, committing approximately $180 million in compensation over three years, pending bankruptcy court approval. The deal includes an additional $30 million in retention awards.
Character.AI, co-founded by former Google Brain researchers Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, built neural language models for conversational AI. The platform lets users create and interact with AI characters.
The agreement requires bankruptcy court approval, signaling Character.AI is undergoing restructuring or sale. Disney's substantial financial commitment reflects the value it places on the team's technical expertise and the company's IP—likely neural language models and training datasets that could accelerate development of personalized digital experiences or interactive content.
Retention awards are Disney's hedge against key personnel departing during the transition. The deal also reflects the acute competition for AI engineering talent, with major tech firms aggressively recruiting researchers and developers to build proprietary AI capabilities rather than relying on external vendors for core development.
