Disney agrees to offer jobs to at least 60 Character.AI employees — TechCrunch

Disney has agreed to offer jobs to at least 60 employees of the Character.AI startup, which filed for bankruptcy this week. This represents the majority of the workforce at the company that develops artificial intelligence-based chatbots.

Employment terms

As TechCrunch reports, the details of the agreement are contained in a legal document noticed by Bloomberg. The estimated annual compensation for these employees is $60 million.

The document also states that the “vast majority” of Character.AI employees who received offers from Disney accepted them. At the same time, the offer has the status of a stalking horse bid, meaning another company may still submit a higher offer for the startup’s assets.

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Startup assets and problems

Former Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand recently became Disney’s first chief technology officer. Earlier, Character.AI said that Disney had agreed to acquire some of its assets for $20 million.

The legal document says that despite a large and active user base, Character.AI’s operations were complicated by high costs, potential liabilities from lawsuits, and interactions with regulators. The mother of a 14-year-old boy sued the company, alleging that her son became engrossed in one of Character.AI’s chatbots before his death. The startup is also the subject of government investigations into child safety.