I keep seeing people describe the character.ai bankruptcy as the first AI bubble domino, so I’m glad to see some reporting on what’s *actually* going on here: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/disney-found-a-way-to-buy-character-ai-without-buying-its-lawsuits/
This is a way for Disney to buy the company without really buying the company, so they can avoid antitrust. It also gets them out of inheriting the active lawsuits. Character.ai has been through this once already - what’s left of the company is kind of a shell after Google hired key employees & licensed their tech.
This “reverse acqui-hire” has become very common with AI companies in the US, because companies currently believe it’s a way to effectively acquire a company without dealing with antitrust. It gets you the important employees and a license to their tech without *technically* acquiring the company.