machine-readable.media

Company

Disney

AI Agents

Disney’s $20m Character.AI bid turns a chatbot platform into an asset sale

A proposed Disney purchase puts a price on selected chatbot assets without guaranteeing continuity for the audience-facing service.

Character.AI filed for Chapter 11 with estimated liabilities of $50 million to $100 million, The Verge reports. Disney is the lead bidder at $20 million for certain undisclosed assets, a nonexclusive IP licence, and transition support using former employees, while subscriptions continue during the sale and the platform may close without a suitable bid. The deal shows consolidation valuing agentic IP and technical talent even as the direct consumer service and its customer relationship remain uncertain.

Games

Epic bets delayed Disney shooter on AI-generated code and art

A flagship partnership is becoming an experiment in human-supervised generation after its staffing and timetable fell short.

Epic Games has delayed its Disney shooter from a planned March release with no new date and instructed the team to use an AI-first production model. An internal message reviewed by Bloomberg said there would be no more hand-written code and all art would use full AI workflows, while Epic says human developers remain the creative leads. The mandate turns a major game into a live test of whether studios can reorganize production around generation without trading away quality, schedules or specialist labor.

Games

Epic makes delayed Disney game AI-first, shifting developers toward supervision

The studio is testing generation across code and art after underestimating the people the project required.

After cutting 1,000 jobs in March, Epic Games delayed a planned Disney game and told its team to adopt an AI-first production model. Staff were told there would be no more hand-written code and that art would be generated through full AI workflows; Epic says developers will remain the creative leads. The shift makes a marquee game a test of whether AI generation can compensate for underestimated staffing without worsening quality, schedules or specialist employment.