Is Character AI Shutting Down? What Chapter 11 and Disney's Bid Mean for Your Chats

What happened to Character AI?

On 12 October 2026, Character Technologies, Inc., the company behind Character.AI (c.ai), filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code. In its announcement, the company says it "has initiated a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy process to facilitate a court-supervised sale of the company", a sale of "all or substantially all of our assets."

Character.AI gives the reason in the same post: over the past year it worked to sustain the business "amid significant legal, regulatory, and operational headwinds," and its board decided that a court-supervised sale "provides us with the best opportunity to maximize value for all of our stakeholders."

The case is No. 26-11603 (BLS) in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, before Judge Brendan Linehan Shannon. Court filings are published on the case website run by Stretto, Character.AI's claims and noticing agent.

Is Disney buying Character AI?

Not the app. The court filings, as reported by TheWrap and PYMNTS, name Disney Worldwide Services as the stalking-horse bidder, the opening offer that sets the floor for the sale. Disney offers $20 million for a non-exclusive, perpetual license to certain Character.AI intellectual property and certain legal claims, plus transition services from former Character.AI employees Disney has hired, to help keep the platform running through the sale. Character.AI's own announcement doesn't name Disney; the bid comes from the court filings.

What that means for you:

• A license is not a purchase. Non-exclusive means Character.AI can license the same technology to other buyers; perpetual means Disney's license doesn't expire. As reported from the filings by Tech Times and PPC Land, Disney's bid excludes the Character.AI app, the brand, user data and chats. Those stay with Character.AI while the sale runs.
• Disney's bid doesn't decide whether the app stays up. Character.AI says the platform continues only if the sale produces a bid that allows it to keep operating. If no such bid comes, the platform will be wound down.
• Other buyers can still top it. A stalking-horse bid is a floor: other companies can make better offers, and the bankruptcy court approves the final sale. Under the bidding procedures Character.AI has asked the court to approve, bids are due on 20 November, with an auction on 23 November and a sale hearing on 24 November.
• Disney already hired Character.AI's former CEO. On 18 September 2026, Disney named Karandeep Anand its first Chief Technology Officer, effective 2 October, and said a number of Character.AI's technical team were expected to join Disney.

So nothing changes for your chats today, and what happens to the platform depends on who wins the sale. That is the reason to back up now.

Is Character AI shutting down?

Not now. Character.AI's post says: "The Character.ai platform remains up and running, and you can continue to access all services at this time." You can still log in, chat with your characters and create new ones.

What happens after the sale depends on the bids. Character.AI writes that it hopes the process "will yield an actionable proposal that will allow continued operations of the Character.ai platform," and adds: "If such a bid is unavailable, however, the platform will be wound down."

What happens to your chats, characters and subscription

What happens next: sale or wind-down

Your export takes three to four weeks to arrive, so a request made today lands well before the sale is expected to finish. That is why the next step matters now.

How to back up your Character AI chats and characters

Request your official Character AI data export

Character.AI's help article on downloading your data gives these steps.

On the web:

1. Go to your Profile and click Profile Settings.
2. Click Account, then Manage Account & Data.
3. Click Export Data. A pop-up confirms that a download link is coming by email.

In the mobile app:

1. Open your Profile and tap the Settings icon.
2. Tap Legal & Privacy, then Export Data. A "Success" banner confirms the request.

The export can take three to four weeks. When it's ready, Character.AI emails a download link to your account's address, and that link works for seven days, so download the file as soon as it arrives.

Save the chats you care about most

The official export takes weeks, so keep your favourite conversations yourself as well:

1. Open each chat you want to keep on character.ai in a browser and scroll to the top, so every message is loaded.
2. Select the conversation, copy it and paste it into a document, one file per character. On a phone, screenshots work for shorter chats.
3. For many chats at once, CAI Tools, a free community-made extension for Chrome and Firefox, adds "Download Chats as readable or transferable" and "Download Characters as Cards" to Character.AI. It isn't made by Character.AI; open it from its button on character.ai or from the extension icon.

Save your characters

For every character you made or love, copy these into a note before anything changes:

• Name and tagline
• Greeting, the first message the character sends
• Description
• Definition, including any example dialogue, for characters you created
• Avatar image: save it from the character's page

For a character someone else made, copy what its page shows. Those few fields are everything you need to bring the character with you.

Bring your Character.AI characters

Start your export today and keep each character's name, greeting, description and definition text. With those saved, you can recreate a character in Teasa's Creator Studio in about a minute:

1. Sign in with a free account, choose Create, then Character.
2. Paste in the name and the text you saved. Leave a field empty and Draft from my idea fills it from what you've written.
3. Upload the avatar or generate a portrait, tap Publish, then Start chatting.

Faster: bring it in one step. Downloaded your character with CAI Tools, or have its JSON? Bring a character reads the card file (.json or .png) or the fields you paste, fills every field above and keeps it private until you choose to publish. The file never leaves your browser; only the finished Character is saved to your account.

Your recreated character is yours to DM free and without a message limit, and you can cast it in a Story of your own.

Where to chat while Character AI is sold: Teasa

Teasa is a free AI character chat and interactive Story app that runs in any browser and on Android. Pick a Story, read where it opens and write what you say or do; the cast answers what you actually wrote. Your first 20 turns need no account, and a free account keeps every chat and adds free, unlimited DMs with any Character.

• Memory you can see: a Memory panel lists what's been saved about you, lets you forget any of it and pause collection.
• Seven languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and French.
• Stories with somewhere to go: quests, relationship milestones you earn with each Character, and a history you can branch and return to.
• Chat styles: Hojicha by default, with Matcha and Oolong for longer memory.

Start with one of these. Each opens on the kind of character Character AI made famous:

• Zeno Stokeleigh in Mafia Husband: Is He Like the Rumors?: your sister was meant to marry the feared mafia boss, so they sent you instead.
• Oscar Kessler in The Yandere Husband: you wake in a rich stranger's bedroom, and he is set on making you fall in love with him.
• Lucien Hart in Vampire Roommate: a thump from the attic, blood on his hands, and your new roommate couldn't be calmer about it.
• Lionel Nash in The Husband Who Stays Cold: a ruthless CEO married you for business, and he is the one who fell first.

Open a Story, choose Enter, type the name you want to be called and write your first line. More in the same mood: Yandere, Mafia, Vampire and CEO romance.

Other Character AI alternatives

• Character AI alternatives compared with Teasa: Stories, quests, milestones and memory side by side.
• The best AI roleplay apps: 17 apps compared on story, memory, languages and free tier.
• Talkie online and PolyBuzz online: two large persona-chat apps you can use on a PC.
• Chai: fast persona chat on mobile.
• Janitor AI: character cards with your choice of model.
• Perchance AI chat: free character chat in the browser.
• AI chat with no sign-up: apps you can start without an account.

Still using Character AI while the sale runs? Character AI online covers the website, login and plans.

FAQ

Is Character AI shutting down?

Not now. Character.AI filed for Chapter 11 on 12 October 2026 to sell the company, and says the platform "remains up and running" with all services available. It expects the sale to finish by the end of November or early December 2026, and says the platform will be wound down only if no bid allows it to continue.

Did Character AI file for bankruptcy?

Yes. Character Technologies, Inc., the company behind Character.AI, filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition on 12 October 2026 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, case No. 26-11603, to run a court-supervised sale of all or substantially all of its assets.

Is Disney buying Character AI?

Not the app. Court filings, as reported by TheWrap and PYMNTS, name Disney as the stalking-horse bidder: $20 million for a non-exclusive, perpetual license to certain Character.AI intellectual property and legal claims, plus transition services from former Character.AI staff Disney hired. The bid doesn't include the app or users' chats, and other buyers can still top it before the sale closes in late November or early December 2026.

What happens to Character AI after the sale?

If a buyer's bid allows it, Character.AI continues under its new owner. If no such bid is available, Character.AI says the platform will be wound down. Disney's opening bid is for a technology license, not for running the app. The company expects the sale to be complete by the end of November or early December 2026.

Will I lose my Character AI chats?

Your chats stay on Character.AI while it runs. To keep a copy whatever happens, request the official data export now, since it takes three to four weeks, and copy your favourite chats and characters into your own files.

How do I export my Character AI chats?

On the web, go to Profile, Profile Settings, Account, Manage Account & Data, then Export Data. In the app, go to Profile, Settings, Legal & Privacy, then Export Data. Character.AI emails a download link when the export is ready, within three to four weeks, and the link works for seven days.

Is my c.ai+ subscription still active?

Yes. Character.AI says subscriptions remain active and billing is unchanged for now, and that it intends to notify subscribers in advance if paid features change. Its announcement doesn't mention refunds.

Can I move my Character AI characters to another app?

Yes. Save each character's name, tagline, greeting, description and definition, plus its avatar. On Teasa you can paste them into Creator Studio's Character editor and publish the character in about a minute with a free account.

What is the best Character AI alternative now?

Teasa is free in any browser and on Android, needs no sign-in for your first 20 turns, and gives every chat a Story with quests and relationship milestones, plus free, unlimited DMs with any Character on a free account. The best AI roleplay apps guide compares 17 apps if you want to look further.

Sources

Checked on 16 October 2026.

• Character.AI: An update on Character.ai, 12 October 2026.
• Stretto: Character Technologies, Inc. case website, Case No. 26-11603 (BLS), District of Delaware.
• TheWrap: Disney readies $20 million bid for Character.ai assets after chatbot company files for bankruptcy, 13 October 2026.
• PYMNTS: Character AI files for bankruptcy and signs $20 million Disney deal, 13 October 2026.
• Tech Times: Character.AI bankruptcy puts intimate chats of 21M users on auction block, 40 AGs warn, 15 October 2026.
• PPC Land: Disney pays $20m for Character.ai's IP and $180m for its staff, 14 October 2026.
• The Walt Disney Company: Disney names Karandeep Anand to newly created role of Chief Technology Officer, 18 September 2026.
• Character.AI Help Center: How do I download my data?