New Delhi, Sept. 19 -- Walt Disney on Friday named outsider Karandeep Anand its first chief technology officer, as AI and sweeping industry consolidation disrupt the media world.

Anand will join Disney on October 2 as senior executive vice president and CTO, reporting directly to CEO Josh D'Amaro. He will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data management and AI platforms, as well as product and engineering across Disney's businesses.

D'Amaro called Anand "an expert builder and strategist, technical and product-minded, with sharp instincts for what fans actually want."

The world of technology, including AI, is not new to Anand. Before joining Disney, he served as chief executive officer of Character.AI, a generative AI chat...