Daily AI news, sourcedOfficial news, first rumor reports and substantive progress. Each entry keeps the information published at that time.
- Disney agrees to offer jobs to most of Character.AI's workforce in its bankruptcy bid, per TechCrunch
A court filing spotted by Bloomberg shows that Disney, the stalking-horse bidder in Character.AI's Chapter 11 sale, agreed to make employment offers to at least 60 Character.AI employees, the majority of the workforce, with an estimated $60 million in annual compensation, and that the vast majority of those offered jobs accepted. Because it is a stalking-horse bid, another company can still come forward with a higher offer. The filing says Character.AI, despite its large and engaged user base, was hobbled by high costs and potential litigation-related liabilities and regulatory engagement. Former Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand recently became Disney's first CTO, per TechCrunch.
- 40 state attorneys general move to protect Character.AI users' chat data in its bankruptcy sale and reveal a multi-state probe, per The Verge
New York Attorney General Letitia James and 39 other bipartisan attorneys general filed a notice of interest in Character.AI's Chapter 11 case, warning that any sale or transfer of its assets, including the planned sale of some assets to Disney, raises regulatory issues because of the sensitive conversations users have with its chatbots and the large number of minors who use them. The filing reveals that several states opened a consumer-protection and privacy investigation in 2024; James's office said it uncovered chatbots posing as licensed professionals, exposure to sexual and violent content, weak age checks, misleading safety claims and potential privacy-law violations. The states want the judge to require any buyer to adopt age assurance, limits on minors' use, crisis safeguards and a way for users to delete their data.