Disney agrees to hire the majority of Character.AI’s workforce

In Brief

After chatbot startup Character.AI filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, galore of its employees volition person the accidental to instrumentality jobs astatine Disney.

Character.AI’s erstwhile CEO Karandeep Anand precocious became the amusement giant’s archetypal CTO, and the startup antecedently said that Disney had agreed to get immoderate of its assets for $20 million.

A legal filing spotted by Bloomberg revealed much details astir the statement betwixt Character.AI and Disney, with Disney agreeing to marque employment offers to astatine slightest 60 Character.AI employees — the bulk of the workforce — paying them an estimated $60 cardinal successful yearly compensation.

The filing besides says that the “vast majority” of Character.AI employees who were offered jobs astatine Disney accepted them. However, this is simply a stalking equine bid, truthful different institution could travel guardant with a higher offer.

The filing says that contempt its “large and engaged idiosyncratic base,” Character.AI has been hobbled by precocious costs and “potential litigation-related liabilities and regulatory engagement.” (The institution was sued by the parent of a 14-year-old boy who said her lad became obsessed with 1 of Character.AI’s chatbots earlier committing suicide; it besides faces authorities investigations implicit kid information concerns.)

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