Disney agrees to hire most of bankrupt chatbot start-up Character.AI's staff
A court filing shows Disney will offer jobs to at least 60 Character.AI employees, with estimated annual pay of $60 million, after the company filed for bankruptcy this week. Disney had already agreed to buy some of its assets for $20 million, and its new chief technology officer is Character.AI's former boss.
Many employees of Character.AI, the chatbot start-up that filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, are heading to Disney. A legal filing first reported by Bloomberg shows the entertainment group has agreed to make job offers to at least 60 Character.AI staff, the majority of the workforce, with total annual compensation estimated at $60 million. According to the filing, the 'vast majority' of those offered jobs have accepted.
The deal deepens an existing link between the two companies. Character.AI's former chief executive, Karandeep Anand, recently became Disney's first chief technology officer, and the start-up had already said Disney agreed to acquire some of its assets for $20 million. Disney's offer is a so-called stalking horse bid, which means another buyer could still come forward with a higher one during the bankruptcy process.
The filing says that despite a 'large and engaged user base', Character.AI was weighed down by high costs and by potential liabilities from litigation and regulatory scrutiny. The company was sued by the mother of a 14-year-old boy who she said became obsessed with one of its chatbots before taking his own life, and it faces government investigations over child safety.
Source: TechCrunch (with Bloomberg)