Verified
Disney
Piloting- Media
- ~231,000 employees
- First CTO since Oct 2026
- DisneyGPT in beta
- J.A.R.V.I.S. for 2,000+ Imagineers
- OpenAI stake dropped
Disney deploys AI through internal assistants, DisneyGPT for staff and the J.A.R.V.I.S. tool made available to its more than 2,000 Imagineers, bought tools such as Microsoft Copilot, and AI features in Disney+, ESPN and Disney Advertising, several still in beta in 2026. Disney dropped a planned $1 billion OpenAI investment after OpenAI decided in Mar 2026 to shut down Sora, and Karandeep Anand became its first Chief Technology Officer in Oct 2026, overseeing data and AI platforms.
thewaltdisneycompany.comTheir approach to AI
- The platform
- Disney runs DisneyGPT, an internal chatbot in beta since Oct 2025 for routine staff requests, and J.A.R.V.I.S., which gives Imagineers access to over 70 years of institutional knowledge (Aug 2026).
- The models
- Disney has not named the models behind DisneyGPT or J.A.R.V.I.S.; staff also use Microsoft Copilot and Amazon Q Developer, and Imagineering uses custom Adobe Firefly Foundry models trained on Disney assets (Jun 2026).
- The reach
- Disney made J.A.R.V.I.S. available to its more than 2,000 Imagineers in 2026 and offers staff DisneyGPT and Copilot, but has published no companywide count of AI users.
- The catch
- Disney dropped its planned $1 billion OpenAI investment after OpenAI decided in Mar 2026 to shut down Sora, and Disney has published no AI budget and no business return from AI.
Snapshot
- Employees
- ~231,000
- Fiscal year end 2025: about 172,000 in the U.S. and 59,000 outside (2025 Form 10-K)
- Technology budget
- Not disclosed
- Disney cites higher technology investment behind Disney+ and Hulu (May 2026)
- AI/ML headcount
- Not disclosed
- The Office of Technology Enablement planned about 100 staff (Nov 2024); Disney agreed to hire most of Character.AI's staff (Oct 2026)
- Who owns AI
- Karandeep Anand, CTO
- Since Oct 2, 2026; oversees data and AI platforms and reports to CEO Josh D'Amaro
- Platform
- DisneyGPT and J.A.R.V.I.S.
- Internal assistants; DisneyGPT in beta since Oct 2025
- Models
- Not disclosed
- Staff tools include Microsoft Copilot and Amazon Q Developer; custom Adobe Firefly Foundry models in Imagineering
- Reach
- 2,000+ Imagineers
- J.A.R.V.I.S. made available to them (Aug 2026); no companywide AI user count published
- Use cases
- Disney+, ESPN, ads, parks, staff
- AI focus areas named by Josh D'Amaro in May 2026 span content, monetization, productivity, guests and operations
Key findings
Disney made its J.A.R.V.I.S. AI tool available to its more than 2,000 Imagineers in 2026, giving them instant access to over 70 years of institutional knowledge, but has published no companywide count of employees using AI (Aug 2026).
Disney announced a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI and a three-year license of more than 200 characters to Sora on Dec 11, 2025, then said on May 6, 2026 that it would not proceed with the investment after OpenAI decided in Mar 2026 to shut down Sora.
Disney named Karandeep Anand, then CEO of Character.AI, its first Chief Technology Officer on Sep 18, 2026, effective Oct 2, overseeing enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering, and in Oct 2026 Disney bid $20 million for a license to Character.AI technology in its bankruptcy and agreed to hire most of its staff.
Josh D'Amaro, CEO since Mar 18, 2026, named five areas for AI in May 2026: content creation and production, monetization, workforce productivity, guest and consumer experiences, and enterprise operations, with human creativity kept at the center.
Much of Disney's customer-facing AI was in beta in 2026, including AI search on ESPN and Disney+ (Aug 2026) and the Ad Creative Studio for connected TV ads (Jul 2026), while ESPN's SportsCenter For You had produced tens of thousands of AI-voiced segments by May 2026.
Where Disney sits
- Stage
- Piloting
Disney sits at Piloting: sanctioned assistants are live for staff (DisneyGPT in beta since Oct 2025, Microsoft Copilot in email and documents, J.A.R.V.I.S. available to more than 2,000 Imagineers), and a handful of named AI features run in production, such as SportsCenter For You on the ESPN app. Disney falls short of Scaling because it has published no companywide user or use-case count, its AI search on Disney+ and ESPN and its AI ad creative tool were still in beta in 2026, it has reported no business result from AI, and one executive, CTO Karandeep Anand, took charge of data and AI platforms only in Oct 2026.
How the stages are defined - Ownership
- CTO Karandeep Anand, reporting to CEO Josh D'Amaro, since Oct 2026
- Platform
- Hybrid: Internal DisneyGPT and J.A.R.V.I.S.; Copilot and Q Developer bought
- Models
- Not disclosed; Copilot, Amazon Q Developer, custom Adobe Firefly models
- Hosting
- AI hosting not disclosed; AWS is the preferred cloud and runs Disney+, including ML services (2021); staff tools on Microsoft, Amazon and Adobe
- Reach
- J.A.R.V.I.S. available to 2,000+ Imagineers (Aug 2026); no companywide count
How they deploy
AI in service of human creativity
Disney says it uses AI first to enhance a creative process that will stay human-centered, artist-driven and creator-led, and argues that its century of IP and production experience is an advantage new entrants cannot quickly copy (Aug 2026 shareholder letter). Josh D'Amaro's first letter as CEO in May 2026 named five areas where AI can play a role, content creation and production, monetization, workforce productivity, guest and consumer experiences, and enterprise operations, and committed Disney to implementing AI in a way that respects creators and the value of its IP.
License the characters, then step back
Disney agreed on Dec 11, 2025 to license more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters to OpenAI's Sora and ChatGPT Images for three years, to invest $1 billion in OpenAI equity with warrants for more, to deploy ChatGPT for employees and to build products on OpenAI's APIs, including for Disney+. OpenAI said on Mar 24, 2026 that it would shut down Sora and that the two companies were winding down their partnership, according to Bloomberg Law, and Disney's May 2026 letter said it would not proceed with the investment while it continues to explore commercial opportunities with OpenAI and others.
Coordinate AI without centralizing it
Disney formed the Office of Technology Enablement in Nov 2024 to coordinate how AI and mixed reality are used across film, television and the parks, led by former Walt Disney Studios CTO Jamie Voris reporting to Alan Bergman. Alan Bergman's memo said the office would partner with the business segments rather than take over their existing projects, and the office was expected to grow to about 100 people.
A companywide CTO for the first time
Josh D'Amaro created Disney's first companywide Chief Technology Officer role in Sep 2026 and hired Karandeep Anand from Character.AI, with a number of Character.AI's technical staff expected to follow. Disney says Anand will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering, working across the segment technology teams, as D'Amaro treats technology as a growth driver and Disney+ as the digital centerpiece of the company. When Character.AI sought Chapter 11 protection in Oct 2026, Disney became the $20 million stalking horse bidder for a perpetual license to Character.AI's training systems and safety tools and agreed to hire most of its staff, according to court filings reported by TNW.
Research groups build their own tools
Disney says it has developed AI and machine learning for decades across Industrial Light & Magic, Pixar, Disney Research Studios and Walt Disney Imagineering (Aug 2026). Walt Disney Imagineering trains its robotic characters with its own deep reinforcement learning platform, works with NVIDIA and Google DeepMind on the open-source Newton simulation framework, and by Jun 2026 was one of the first clients of Adobe Firefly Foundry, with custom generative models trained on its own creative assets.
- Deployment model
- Disney runs AI inside its three segments, Disney Entertainment, ESPN and Disney Experiences, each with its own technology teams, with two company-level layers on top: the Office of Technology Enablement, formed in Nov 2024 to coordinate AI and mixed reality, and since Oct 2026 Chief Technology Officer Karandeep Anand, who works across the segment technology teams. Streaming product and engineering, advertising technology and data and analytics for Disney+ and Hulu sit with Adam Smith, Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer (Sep 2026). Disney employees get approved AI tools, including DisneyGPT, Microsoft Copilot and Amazon Q Developer, and an internal portal sets out Disney's AI policy and lists the approved tools, according to Business Insider (Dec 2025).
- Model providers
- Disney has not named the models behind DisneyGPT, J.A.R.V.I.S., ESPN Search, the Disney+ discovery beta or the Ad Creative Studio, which Disney says combines multiple AI models in one workflow (Jul 2026). Disney staff have Microsoft Copilot, integrated into email and documents, and Amazon Q Developer, and the Dec 2025 OpenAI agreement said Disney would deploy ChatGPT for employees and use OpenAI's APIs; Business Insider reported that staff would soon get ChatGPT Enterprise, but OpenAI said in Mar 2026 that the two companies were winding down their partnership, and no report confirms the rollout. Walt Disney Imagineering uses custom Adobe Firefly Foundry models trained on Disney's creative assets (Jun 2026). Business Insider also reported in Dec 2025 that three Disney staffers found unsanctioned tools such as Anthropic's Claude more effective than the approved ones.
- Data and infrastructure
- Disney has not disclosed where its AI models run or whether it hosts any model in its own data centers; its 2025 Form 10-K says only that it uses computer and cloud-based systems to deliver its products and run its businesses. Amazon Web Services has been Disney's preferred public cloud infrastructure provider since Nov 2017, and AWS said in Apr 2021 that Disney+ used more than 50 AWS services, including machine learning, analytics and databases. The bought tools Disney staff use are vendor services from Microsoft (Copilot), Amazon (Q Developer) and Adobe (Firefly Foundry). ESPN Search draws on ESPN articles and videos, ESPN Research stats, sports metadata, internal knowledge repositories and structured sports data (Aug 2026), and Disney Advertising runs Disney Compass, a proprietary data platform for first-party data, planning and measurement, alongside a clean room where its machine learning audience engine runs. Josh D'Amaro said on the Aug 5, 2026 earnings call that unifying consumer data, now held in disparate sets across parks, streaming, studios and consumer products, is an enterprise-wide priority.
Platforms and internal tools
DisneyGPTOct 2025 (beta)
DisneyGPT is Disney's internal employee chatbot, introduced in beta by email to staff on Oct 2, 2025, that helps with internal requests such as creating IT support tickets, looking up the company roster and analyzing a project's financials. A Dec 2025 update let DisneyGPT users upload Excel and PowerPoint files, and employees told Business Insider that DisneyGPT works much like a standard AI chatbot with Disney-themed prompts.
J.A.R.V.I.S.2026
J.A.R.V.I.S. is the AI tool Disney made available to its more than 2,000 Imagineers earlier in 2026, giving them instant access to over 70 years of institutional knowledge. Business Insider reported in Dec 2025 that Disney was building an agentic assistant codenamed Jarvis that would complete tasks on an employee's behalf; Disney has not said whether the Imagineering tool is that project.
- Users
- Available to 2,000+ Imagineers (Aug 2026)
Microsoft Copilot and Amazon Q DeveloperBy Dec 2025
Disney gives employees Microsoft Copilot, integrated into their email and documents, and Amazon's Q Developer coding assistant; seven of eight Disney staff interviewed by Business Insider in Dec 2025 had tried or regularly used DisneyGPT or Copilot, mostly for routine tasks such as writing emails.
- Models
- Microsoft Copilot, Amazon Q Developer
SportsCenter For YouAug 2025 (beta at launch)
SportsCenter For You is a daily, personalized version of SportsCenter in the ESPN app, with highlights, news and video chosen for each fan's teams and sports and AI-generated commentary based on the voices of ESPN anchors, scaled through AI in partnership with them. Disney's 2026 proxy statement describes SportsCenter For You as personalized for millions of fans.
- Users
- Millions of unique viewers (May 2026)
ESPN Search and Disney+ AI discoveryAug 2026 (beta)
ESPN Search lets a subset of ESPN app users ask sports questions in natural language and get answers, stats, content and recommendations, while a limited Disney+ beta recommends titles from a viewer's immediate context, typed or spoken, not only viewing history.
Disney Ad Creative StudioJul 2026 (closed beta)
Disney Ad Creative Studio, inside Disney Campaign Manager, combines multiple AI models in one workflow to turn small and mid-sized advertisers' logos, product images and brand guidelines into connected TV video ads, with variations by audience, geography and content; Disney previewed it at its Jan 2026 Tech & Data Showcase and tested it internally first.
Disney Compass and Disney Select AI Engine2025
Disney Compass is Disney Advertising's proprietary platform for planning, data collaboration and measurement, live in the U.S. and Latin America with EMEA next and adding AI-powered summaries (Jan 2026). The Disney Select AI Engine, announced in Jan 2025, uses machine learning to build custom lookalike audiences and sequential messaging inside Disney's clean room.
Imagineering robotics and Adobe Firefly Foundry models2025 to 2026
Walt Disney Imagineering's deep reinforcement learning platform trains robotic characters such as the BDX droids and Olaf in simulation to imitate animators' motion, and Imagineering contributed a simulator called Kamino to Newton, the GPU-accelerated framework it develops with NVIDIA and Google DeepMind. Imagineering Research & Development also built custom Adobe Firefly Foundry generative models, trained on its own creative assets, for theme park design (Jun 2026).
- Models
- In-house reinforcement learning; custom Adobe Firefly Foundry models
Vendors and partners
OpenAIDec 2025
Sora character license, planned $1B equity investment, ChatGPT for employees and API use · OpenAI said on Mar 24, 2026 that it would shut down Sora and that the companies were winding down their partnership, a Disney insider told Deadline the deal was not moving forward, and Disney said on May 6, 2026 that it would not proceed with the investment while it explores commercial opportunities with OpenAI and others.
MicrosoftBy Dec 2025
Microsoft Copilot for employees, integrated into email and documents
Amazon Web ServicesNov 2017
Preferred public cloud infrastructure provider; Amazon Q Developer coding assistant for employees · AWS said in Apr 2021 that Disney+ used more than 50 AWS services, including machine learning; Business Insider reported Q Developer in staff use by Dec 2025.
Character.AIOct 2026
Stalking horse bidder, at $20 million, for a perpetual license to Character.AI's training systems and safety tools, alongside Disney's agreement to hire most of its staff · Court filings reported by TNW show the deal sheet was signed on Sep 18, 2026, the day Disney named Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand its CTO, with rival bids due Nov 20 and an auction set for Nov 23, 2026; the license excludes finished models, user data, training data and the Character.AI brand.
AdobeJun 2026
Adobe Firefly Foundry custom generative models for Walt Disney Imagineering · Disney is one of the first Firefly Foundry clients; the models are trained on Disney's own creative assets.
NVIDIA and Google DeepMindBy 2025
Co-developers with Walt Disney Imagineering of Newton, an open-source robotics simulation framework · Disney says the BDX droid program ran on Newton and took a year, and the Olaf robotic character built on that framework took about four months.
Leadership
AI, data and platform leaders
Executives
AI org map
AI built inside the three business segments, coordinated by an Office of Technology Enablement and, since Oct 2026, a companywide CTO
Disney created the Office of Technology Enablement in Nov 2024 under Jamie Voris, reporting to Alan Bergman, to coordinate AI and mixed reality without taking over projects in the segments. In Sep 2026 CEO Josh D'Amaro created Disney's first companywide Chief Technology Officer role, filled by Karandeep Anand from Oct 2, 2026, reporting to D'Amaro and covering enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering across the segment technology teams. Disney's 2025 Form 10-K places the Chief Information and Data Officer, Susan Doniz since Feb 2025, under CFO Hugh Johnston. Streaming product and technology sit with Adam Smith in Disney Entertainment, and Walt Disney Imagineering's research and development group sits in Disney Experiences.
Disney's AI work sits in its segment technology teams, Disney Entertainment and ESPN product and engineering, Walt Disney Studios technology and Walt Disney Imagineering, in research groups such as Disney Research Studios in Zurich, Imagineering Research & Development, Industrial Light & Magic and Pixar, and in the Office of Technology Enablement, which was set to grow to about 100 people after Nov 2024. Disney has not published a count of its AI and machine learning staff; Karandeep Anand's CTO organization, formed in Oct 2026, sits alongside Susan Doniz's enterprise technology and data organization, and court filings reported in Oct 2026 show Disney agreeing to offer jobs to about 65 of Character.AI's staff.
Reporting lines
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Technology Officer
Karandeep Anand
Enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering, working across segment technology teams (Sep 2026)
Chief Financial Officer
Hugh Johnston
Chief Information and Data Officer
Susan Doniz
Reporting line per the 2025 Form 10-K; whether the role moved under the CTO in Oct 2026 is not published
Disney Entertainment
Dana Walden, President and Chief Creative Officer
Streaming, film, television and games (Mar 2026)
Disney Entertainment, Studios
Alan Bergman, Chairman
On Dana Walden's senior leadership team, sharing oversight of Direct-to-Consumer (Mar 2026)
Office of Technology Enablement
Jamie Voris
Coordinates AI and mixed reality across segments (Nov 2024); reporting line after the Oct 2026 CTO appointment not published
Direct-to-Consumer
Adam Smith, Chairman
Disney+ and Hulu product, engineering, advertising technology, data and analytics (Sep 2026); reporting line inferred
ESPN
Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman
SportsCenter For You and ESPN Search; reporting line inferred
Disney Experiences
Thomas Mazloum, Chairman
Parks, cruises and consumer products; reporting line inferred
Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development
Kyle Laughlin, SVP
Robotics trained with reinforcement learning; custom Adobe Firefly Foundry models
Disney's Nov 2023 announcement of Hugh Johnston as CFO placed enterprise technology in the finance organization, and Disney's 2025 Form 10-K says the Chief Information and Data Officer and the Chief Security Officer report to the CFO; the Sep 2026 release puts enterprise technology under Karandeep Anand. The Sep 2026 release says Anand works across Disney's segment technology teams but does not say whether those teams, Susan Doniz's organization, the Office of Technology Enablement or Adam Smith's streaming product and engineering group report to him. Disney's leadership page, checked Nov 1, 2026, lists Anand as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer and does not list Jamie Voris or Susan Doniz.
Where the AI workforce sits
Segment technology teams
Disney Entertainment and ESPN product and engineering, Walt Disney Studios technology and Disney Experiences, which build the Disney+, ESPN, advertising and parks AI features.
Not disclosedResearch groups
Disney Research Studios in Zurich (machine learning and visual computing), Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Industrial Light & Magic and Pixar.
Not disclosedOffice of Technology Enablement
Estimate: the target size reported when the office formed in Nov 2024; Disney has not published its current size.
~100 plannedCTO organization
Formed in Oct 2026; court filings reported in Oct 2026 show Disney agreeing to offer jobs to about 65 Character.AI staff.
Not disclosed
Named people
Use cases
Disney named five areas for AI in May 2026: content creation and production, monetization, workforce productivity, guest and consumer experiences, and enterprise operations. Disney's named AI use cases in production include studio pre- and post-production and 3D releases, SportsCenter For You and live captioning at ESPN, Microsoft Copilot for staff, the J.A.R.V.I.S. knowledge tool made available to more than 2,000 Imagineers and robotic characters trained in simulation, while DisneyGPT, the Ad Creative Studio and AI search on ESPN and Disney+ were still in beta in 2026. Disney has described lower costs and new ad revenue from AI without figures and has not published a business-level return for any AI use case or for AI as a whole.
| Use case | Area | Status | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio pre-production, post-production and 3D Josh D'Amaro said on the Aug 5, 2026 earnings call that Disney's studios use AI across core technical processes in the production pipeline, especially pre- and post-production, to get films to market faster, offer more titles in 3D and premium formats, bring visual effects to more shots and speed up rendering and denoising. | Disney Entertainment | In production | |
| Disney+ AI discovery A limited beta for select Disney+ subscribers recommends titles from a viewer's immediate context and needs, entered in natural language, by voice or through suggested prompts. | Disney Entertainment | Pilot | |
| Disney+ personalization Josh D'Amaro said in May 2026 that Disney is developing a hyper-personalized recommendation engine across Disney+ and ESPN, and on the Aug 5, 2026 call that AI is improving personalization and the recommendation engine on Disney+. | Disney Entertainment | In production | |
| SportsCenter For You SportsCenter For You builds a daily, personalized SportsCenter in the ESPN app with AI-generated commentary based on ESPN anchors' voices, and had produced tens of thousands of segments for millions of unique viewers by May 2026. | ESPN | In production | |
| ESPN Search ESPN Search answers natural-language sports questions with stats, content and recommendations drawn from ESPN articles, videos, ESPN Research data and structured sports data, in beta with a subset of ESPN app users. | ESPN | Pilot | |
| Live captioning and highlight clipping ESPN uses AI for live captioning and for clipping highlights, which Josh D'Amaro cited on the Aug 5, 2026 call as productivity work within ESPN's three AI goals of fan engagement, revenue growth from new ad formats, and productivity. | ESPN | In production | |
| Ad Creative Studio Disney Ad Creative Studio turns small and mid-sized advertisers' existing brand assets into connected TV video ads using multiple AI models, with human oversight and safeguards for IP and likeness, in closed beta with select advertisers since Jul 2026; Josh D'Amaro said on the Aug 5, 2026 call that Disney's advertising teams have implemented ad delivery of GenAI-powered creative. | Disney Advertising | Pilot | |
| AI audience building and campaign summaries The Disney Select AI Engine uses machine learning to build lookalike audiences inside Disney's clean room (Jan 2025), and the Disney Compass Brand Portal offers AI-powered summaries of brand performance alongside an AI-powered internal planning tool (Jan 2026); Josh D'Amaro said in May 2026 that Disney is implementing AI to improve ad targeting. | Disney Advertising | In production | |
| J.A.R.V.I.S. for Imagineers J.A.R.V.I.S. gives Disney's more than 2,000 Imagineers instant access to over 70 years of Imagineering's institutional knowledge. | Disney Experiences | In production | |
| Digital twins for attraction design Disney uses AI-powered digital twins and simulation tools to design and stress-test new attractions, including for the planned Abu Dhabi theme park. | Disney Experiences | In production | |
| Generative design with Adobe Firefly Foundry Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development built custom Adobe Firefly Foundry generative models, trained on Disney's own creative assets, for theme park design. | Disney Experiences | Pilot | |
| Guest trip planning and cast member tools Disney is applying AI to simplify booking and trip planning for guests and giving cast members AI-assisted tools to serve guests in the moment. | Disney Experiences | Pilot | |
| Park labor forecasting Hugh Johnston said on the May 6, 2026 earnings call, answering a question on generative AI, that Disney has an initiative to implement precision labor demand forecasting across its theme parks, which he said has the potential to improve cost management. | Disney Experiences | Announced | |
| Robotic characters trained in simulation Walt Disney Imagineering trains robotic characters such as the BDX droids and Olaf with deep reinforcement learning in simulation before they take a real step, using the Newton framework it develops with NVIDIA and Google DeepMind; the BDX droids have greeted guests at Disneyland Resort and aboard the Disney Wish (Apr 2025). | Disney Experiences | In production | |
| DisneyGPT employee assistant DisneyGPT helps Disney employees create IT support tickets, look up the company roster and analyze project financials, and has accepted Excel and PowerPoint uploads since Dec 2025. | Enterprise | Pilot | |
| Microsoft Copilot and coding assistants Disney employees use Microsoft Copilot in email and documents, mostly for routine tasks such as writing emails, and engineers have Amazon Q Developer. | Enterprise | In production | |
| ChatGPT for employees Disney's Dec 2025 OpenAI agreement said Disney would deploy ChatGPT for its employees; the rollout has not been confirmed since OpenAI said in Mar 2026 that the two companies were winding down their partnership and Disney dropped the investment. | Enterprise | Announced |
Adoption
Disney spread AI in separate tracks: machine learning in advertising audience tools and Disney+ personalization, an AI-voiced personalized SportsCenter from Aug 2025, staff assistants from late 2025, and Imagineering tools in 2026. DisneyGPT entered beta for staff on Oct 2, 2025, Microsoft Copilot runs in employees' email and documents, and seven of eight employees interviewed by Business Insider in Dec 2025 had tried or regularly used DisneyGPT or Copilot, while three said unsanctioned tools such as Claude can work better than the approved ones. The only staff reach figure Disney has published is J.A.R.V.I.S., made available to its more than 2,000 Imagineers (Aug 2026), out of about 231,000 employees.
By the numbers
Rollout, first pilot to today
Nov 2024
Alan Bergman formed the Office of Technology Enablement under Jamie Voris to coordinate AI and mixed reality across Disney's film, television and park businesses, with a target of about 100 staff.
Jan 2025
Disney Advertising launched the Disney Select AI Engine, which uses machine learning to build lookalike audiences inside Disney's clean room.
Mar 2025
Walt Disney Imagineering showed the BDX droids, robots that learn to move and balance through reinforcement learning in simulation, at Disney's annual meeting and at SXSW.
Aug 2025
ESPN launched its direct-to-consumer service with SportsCenter For You, a personalized SportsCenter with AI-generated commentary, in beta.
Oct 2025
Disney introduced DisneyGPT in beta to employees by email on Oct 2, 2025; by Dec 2025 staff also had Microsoft Copilot and Amazon Q Developer.
Dec 2025
Disney agreed to license characters to Sora, invest $1 billion in OpenAI and deploy ChatGPT for employees.
Jan 2026
Disney Advertising began testing an AI tool that makes connected TV commercials from brands' existing assets, with Known and Instinct Pet Food among the first brands.
Mar 2026
OpenAI said it would shut down Sora, and a Disney insider said the planned $1 billion investment was not moving forward.
Jun 2026
Disney said Walt Disney Imagineering is one of the first clients of Adobe Firefly Foundry, with custom generative models trained on Disney's creative assets.
Jul 2026
Disney opened the Ad Creative Studio to select advertisers in a closed beta.
Aug 2026
Disney reported that J.A.R.V.I.S. had been made available to its more than 2,000 Imagineers earlier in 2026 and that it uses AI digital twins to design attractions.
Aug 2026
Disney began beta tests of AI-powered search on the ESPN app and AI discovery on Disney+.
Oct 2026
Karandeep Anand joined as Disney's first companywide CTO, with data and AI platforms in his remit.
Oct 2026
Disney bid $20 million for a perpetual license to Character.AI's training systems and safety tools in its Chapter 11 sale and agreed to offer jobs to most of its staff.
Economics & controls
Spend and ROI
Technology budget
Disney does not disclose a technology budget. Disney's May 2026 shareholder letter said a product pipeline aimed at engagement on Disney+ and Hulu is driving higher technology investment, and its quarterly results cite higher technology and distribution costs in the Entertainment and Sports segments.
What AI itself costs
Disney has not published what it spends on AI. Disney's largest announced AI commitment, a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI from Dec 2025, never closed: Deadline reported in Mar 2026 that no money had changed hands, and Disney said on May 6, 2026 that it would not proceed. Hugh Johnston said on the Aug 5, 2026 call that Disney raised its fiscal 2026 share repurchase target to at least $9 billion largely to use cash set aside for the OpenAI deal and expected A&E sale proceeds. In Oct 2026 Disney became the $20 million stalking horse bidder for a perpetual license to Character.AI's training systems and safety tools in Character.AI's Chapter 11 sale, and court filings reported by TNW put Disney's estimated cost for about 65 Character.AI staff at roughly $60 million a year, plus a $30 million retention pool.
Reported ROI
Disney has not reported a business-level return from AI, in cost, revenue or headcount. Josh D'Amaro said on the Aug 5, 2026 call that AI lets Disney's studios get films to market faster, offer more titles in 3D and bring visual effects to shots that were not economically viable before, and that ESPN's AI work targets revenue from new ad formats and productivity in live captioning and highlight clipping, all without figures. Disney's Aug 2026 shareholder letter credits product and technology improvements, much of it better search and discovery, with engagement growth on Disney+, an engagement measure the letter does not attribute to AI, and Kyle Laughlin said Imagineering's custom generative models can compress months of design work into days and weeks, a task speedup Disney has not tied to cost.
Headcount
Disney employed about 231,000 people at the end of fiscal 2025, about 172,000 of them in the U.S., with 76% full-time, 16% part-time and 8% seasonal. Disney recorded $180 million of severance in the nine months to Jun 27, 2026; Josh D'Amaro announced about 1,000 job cuts in Apr 2026, Disney cut a few hundred more jobs, largely in technology and human resources, on Sep 29, 2026, according to TheWrap, and Blooloop, citing the Los Angeles Times, reported 100 to 200 cuts at Disney Experiences in Oct 2026. Disney has not tied these cuts to AI; a Sep 18, 2026 memo from Horacio Gutierrez said Legal and Global Affairs would become a much smaller organization, in part by automating certain workflows with the latest technologies, which TheWrap read as tools such as AI.
Governance and risk
Principles-based AI governance
Disney's 2026 proxy statement says Disney runs an AI governance process under a principles-based framework that reviews each proposed use of AI for business, information integrity, human rights, privacy, legal and other risks and the measures that can mitigate them, with updates to executive management and the Board. Disney's full Board receives reporting on AI strategy, risks, intellectual property and governance, and the Board and Audit Committee receive updates on AI litigation.
Board oversight
Disney's Governance and Nominating Committee receives an annual human rights risk report that has covered AI and reporting on Disney's responsible AI use and governance disclosure. Disney's 2026 proxy statement lists adding AI oversight to the director skills matrix among recent actions taken in response to shareholders.
Approved tools and staff policy
Disney keeps an internal portal that sets out its AI policy and lists approved AI tools, and its Responsible AI Use section says humans are and will remain the creative engine of the company, according to Business Insider (Dec 2025). Two Disney employees said staff were pointed to AI education or compliance training; three said unsanctioned tools such as Anthropic's Claude can work better than approved ones, an ESPN employee said a manager allowed personal accounts on unapproved chatbots, and a staffer with direct knowledge of Disney's AI efforts said workers may not grasp the data security risks of unsanctioned tools.
IP, likeness and creators
Disney's Dec 2025 OpenAI license excluded talent likenesses and voices and committed both companies to controls on harmful content and to respecting creators' rights over model outputs. Disney's Ad Creative Studio applies safeguards to respect IP and protect image, voice and likeness (Jul 2026), and Disney's 2025 Form 10-K warns that AI tools have made it easier to create infringing works from Disney's IP. Disney sent Character.AI a cease-and-desist over unauthorized use of its characters in Sep 2025, a year before hiring Character.AI's CEO as CTO, and on Dec 11, 2025, the day of the OpenAI deal, sent Google a cease-and-desist accusing it of copyright infringement on a massive scale through AI services including Gemini, Veo, Imagen and YouTube, according to TheWrap.
Security, privacy and regulation
Disney's Audit Committee oversees technology, cybersecurity and data security risk and heard from the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer three times in fiscal 2025; the CISO reports to the Chief Information and Data Officer and the Chief Security Officer, and Disney's 2025 Form 10-K says the spread of AI tools adds to the cost of its security program. Disney's privacy policies are overseen day to day by its General Counsel, International and Executive Vice President, Global Public Policy & Privacy, who reports to Chief Legal and Global Affairs Officer Horacio Gutierrez, and Disney's Aug 2026 quarterly report warns that AI compliance obligations could raise costs or limit how Disney uses the technology.
Recent signals
Oct 12, 2026
Character.AI sought Chapter 11 protection with Disney as $20 million stalking horse bidder for a perpetual license to its training systems and safety tools; filings reported on Oct 19 show Disney agreeing to offer jobs to about 65 of its staff at an estimated $60 million a year.
Sep 18, 2026
Disney named Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand its first Chief Technology Officer, effective Oct 2, reporting to Josh D'Amaro and overseeing enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering, with some Character.AI technical staff expected to follow.
Aug 6, 2026
Disney began beta tests of ESPN Search, a natural-language sports search in the ESPN app, and an AI discovery tool for select Disney+ subscribers.
Aug 5, 2026
On Disney's Q3 earnings call Josh D'Amaro described AI use across the studios, Disney+, advertising, ESPN and park trip planning, and Hugh Johnston said a buyback target raised to at least $9 billion would largely use cash set aside for the OpenAI deal; the same day's shareholder letter said J.A.R.V.I.S. had been made available to more than 2,000 Imagineers.
Jul 31, 2026
Disney Accelerator named its 2026 class, all AI companies: FieldAI and Physical Intelligence in robot foundation models, Promise and OpenArt in generative video and visual stories, and Simile in AI simulation of consumer behavior.
Jul 23, 2026
Disney began a closed beta of Ad Creative Studio, which uses multiple AI models to turn advertisers' brand assets into connected TV ads.
Jun 18, 2026
Disney said Walt Disney Imagineering is one of the first clients of Adobe Firefly Foundry, with custom generative models trained on its own creative assets for theme park design.
May 8, 2026
ESPN said it had created tens of thousands of SportsCenter For You segments, its personalized SportsCenter with AI-generated commentary, reaching millions of unique viewers.
May 6, 2026
Josh D'Amaro's first shareholder letter named five areas for AI across Disney and said Disney would not proceed with its planned OpenAI investment after Sora's shutdown.
Mar 24, 2026
OpenAI said it would shut down Sora, and a Disney insider told Deadline that the $1 billion investment deal was not moving forward.
Mar 18, 2026
Josh D'Amaro, named on Feb 3, 2026, succeeded Bob Iger as CEO, with Dana Walden becoming President and Chief Creative Officer.
Feb 2, 2026
Bob Iger told investors on Disney's Q1 call that a curated slate of Sora-generated videos would come to Disney+ to jump-start short-form video, and named creativity, productivity and connectivity as AI's opportunities for Disney.
Jan 8, 2026
Disney Advertising unveiled an AI tool that generates connected TV commercials from brands' existing assets, an AI-powered planning tool and AI summaries in Disney Compass at its Tech & Data Showcase.
Dec 12, 2025
Business Insider reported that Disney staff use DisneyGPT, Microsoft Copilot and Amazon Q Developer, that an agentic assistant codenamed Jarvis was in early development, and that ChatGPT Enterprise was coming.
Dec 11, 2025
Disney agreed to license more than 200 characters to OpenAI's Sora and ChatGPT Images, invest $1 billion in OpenAI, deploy ChatGPT for employees and build on OpenAI's APIs.
Quick answers
- How does Disney deploy AI?
- Disney deploys AI through internal assistants, DisneyGPT for staff and the J.A.R.V.I.S. tool made available to its more than 2,000 Imagineers, bought tools such as Microsoft Copilot, and AI features in Disney+, ESPN and Disney Advertising, several still in beta in 2026. Disney dropped a planned $1 billion OpenAI investment after OpenAI decided in Mar 2026 to shut down Sora, and Karandeep Anand became its first Chief Technology Officer in Oct 2026, overseeing data and AI platforms.
- What does Disney use AI for?
- Disney named five areas for AI in May 2026: content creation and production, monetization, workforce productivity, guest and consumer experiences, and enterprise operations. Disney's named AI use cases in production include studio pre- and post-production and 3D releases, SportsCenter For You and live captioning at ESPN, Microsoft Copilot for staff, the J.A.R.V.I.S. knowledge tool made available to more than 2,000 Imagineers and robotic characters trained in simulation, while DisneyGPT, the Ad Creative Studio and AI search on ESPN and Disney+ were still in beta in 2026. Disney has described lower costs and new ad revenue from AI without figures and has not published a business-level return for any AI use case or for AI as a whole.
- Who leads AI at Disney?
- AI at Disney is led by Karandeep Anand (Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer); Susan Doniz (Chief Information and Data Officer); Adam Smith (Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer, Disney Entertainment). Ownership of AI on the org chart: CTO Karandeep Anand, reporting to CEO Josh D'Amaro, since Oct 2026.
- What AI platform does Disney use?
- Disney runs DisneyGPT, an internal chatbot in beta since Oct 2025 for routine staff requests, and J.A.R.V.I.S., which gives Imagineers access to over 70 years of institutional knowledge (Aug 2026).
- Which AI models does Disney use?
- Disney has not named the models behind DisneyGPT or J.A.R.V.I.S.; staff also use Microsoft Copilot and Amazon Q Developer, and Imagineering uses custom Adobe Firefly Foundry models trained on Disney assets (Jun 2026).
- How many Disney employees use AI?
- Disney made J.A.R.V.I.S. available to its more than 2,000 Imagineers in 2026 and offers staff DisneyGPT and Copilot, but has published no companywide count of AI users.
- How far has AI spread at Disney?
- Disney sits at Piloting: sanctioned assistants are live for staff (DisneyGPT in beta since Oct 2025, Microsoft Copilot in email and documents, J.A.R.V.I.S. available to more than 2,000 Imagineers), and a handful of named AI features run in production, such as SportsCenter For You on the ESPN app. Disney falls short of Scaling because it has published no companywide user or use-case count, its AI search on Disney+ and ESPN and its AI ad creative tool were still in beta in 2026, it has reported no business result from AI, and one executive, CTO Karandeep Anand, took charge of data and AI platforms only in Oct 2026.
Open questions
- Did Disney roll out ChatGPT Enterprise to employees as the Dec 2025 OpenAI agreement planned, given that OpenAI said in Mar 2026 the two companies were winding down their partnership?
- How many Disney employees use DisneyGPT, Microsoft Copilot and other approved AI tools, and has DisneyGPT left beta?
- Is the J.A.R.V.I.S. tool made available to Imagineers the agentic Jarvis assistant Business Insider reported in Dec 2025, and will it reach staff outside Imagineering?
- Which models power DisneyGPT, J.A.R.V.I.S., ESPN Search, the Disney+ discovery beta and the Ad Creative Studio, and which clouds or Disney data centers host them?
- Do the segment technology teams, Susan Doniz's information and data organization, the Office of Technology Enablement and Adam Smith's streaming engineering group now report to CTO Karandeep Anand, and does Jamie Voris still lead the Office of Technology Enablement?
- Will Disney win the Character.AI license at the auction set for Nov 23, 2026, how many Character.AI staff have joined, and what will Disney build with the licensed training systems and safety tools?
- What does Disney spend on AI, and what business return do its deployed tools deliver, such as SportsCenter For You, park labor forecasting, digital twins and Disney+ personalization?
- How much have AI-assisted 3D releases, visual effects, live captioning and highlight clipping saved, given that Josh D'Amaro described the gains in Aug 2026 without figures?
- Did AI play any part in the roughly 1,000 job cuts in Apr 2026 or the later cuts at Disney Experiences?
- Which commercial opportunities with OpenAI and other AI companies is Disney pursuing after Sora's shutdown?
- How many AI and machine learning specialists does Disney employ across its segments and research groups?
Sources
Disney
- Leadership and board of directors
- Disney names Karandeep Anand to newly created role of Chief Technology Officer (Sep 18, 2026)
- Adam Smith named Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer, Disney Entertainment (Sep 17, 2026)
- Disney sets leadership team for expanded Disney Entertainment segment (Mar 16, 2026)
- Josh D'Amaro named next Chief Executive Officer (Feb 3, 2026)
- Disney and OpenAI reach agreement to bring characters to Sora (Dec 11, 2025)
- Beta testing AI-powered search and discovery on ESPN and Disney+ (Aug 6, 2026)
- Disney Accelerator announces its 2026 participants (Jul 31, 2026)
- Disney Ad Creative Studio begins closed beta (Jul 23, 2026)
- Why the world's leading tech companies collaborate with Disney (Jun 18, 2026)
- Rita Ferro on Disney's next chapter in advertising and the upfront (May 11, 2026)
- ESPN app interactivity is engaging millions of fans (May 8, 2026)
- Sixth Annual Global Tech & Data Showcase (Jan 8, 2026)
- Walt Disney Imagineering brings Olaf robotic character to life (Nov 24, 2025)
- ESPN direct-to-consumer: what you need to know (Aug 21, 2025)
- BDX droids: behind the technology (Apr 3, 2025)
- Fifth Annual Global Tech & Data Showcase (Jan 9, 2025)
- Disney Research Studios
- Studio Technology at The Walt Disney Studios (Jul 7, 2025)
- Disney Experiences announces leadership changes (Mar 10, 2026)
Filings and investor materials
- Q3 fiscal 2026 earnings call transcript (Aug 5, 2026)
- Q3 fiscal 2026 shareholder letter (Aug 5, 2026)
- Q2 fiscal 2026 earnings call transcript (May 6, 2026)
- Q2 fiscal 2026 shareholder letter (May 6, 2026)
- Q1 fiscal 2026 earnings call transcript (Feb 2, 2026)
- Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Jun 27, 2026 (Aug 5, 2026)
- 2026 proxy statement (Jan 22, 2026)
- 2025 Form 10-K (Nov 13, 2025)
- 8-K exhibit: Disney names Hugh Johnston Senior Executive Vice President and CFO (Nov 6, 2023)
Partners
News
- TNW: Disney to spend $180M on Character.AI staff over three years, filing shows (Oct 19, 2026)
- TheWrap: Disney readies $20 million bid for Character.ai assets after bankruptcy filing (Oct 13, 2026)
- TheWrap: Disney layoffs, a few hundred workers cut in tech and HR (Sep 29, 2026)
- Reuters via The Star: Disney names Character.AI's Karandeep Anand its first tech chief (Sep 18, 2026)
- Laughing Place: Josh D'Amaro on how Disney already uses AI, Q3 2026 earnings (Aug 5, 2026)
- Mickey Visit: Disney's new CEO gives specifics on use of AI in parks, movies and streaming (Aug 5, 2026)
- Mediaweek: Disney by D'Amaro, earnings, AI and parks (May 8, 2026)
- Deadline: Disney's $1B investment in OpenAI is off as Sora shuts down (Mar 24, 2026)
- Bloomberg Law: OpenAI discontinues support for Sora, winds down Disney deal (Mar 24, 2026)
- The National CIO Review: Disney accelerates streaming growth with AI and unified platforms (Feb 2026)
- Business Insider: Disney employees detail its internal AI strategy, from DisneyGPT to Jarvis (Dec 12, 2025)
- TheWrap: Disney sends cease-and-desist letter to Google over generative AI (Dec 11, 2025)
- CDO Magazine: The Walt Disney Company appoints Susan Doniz as Chief Information and Data Officer (Feb 18, 2025)
- Blooloop: Disney to lay off at least 100 workers in theme parks division (Oct 29, 2026)
- Blooloop: Disney's new Office of Technology Enablement (Nov 2024)
- Maginative: Disney forms new unit to focus on AI and mixed reality strategy (Nov 1, 2024)
Data confidence
- Confirmed
- Stated in a primary or reputable public source.
- Estimated
- Derived or approximated from public reporting.
- Unconfirmed
- Reported, but not yet corroborated.
Disney profile · Enterprise AI diffusion report by Imagine · facts checked against their sources on Nov 1, 2026