Disney Forces Character.AI To Stop Using Marvel, Mickey Mouse And Star Wars Chatbots: Here Is Why

Disney has always been a critic of AI in entertainment and the use of copyrighted material without permission. And this time, the entertainment giant has warned Character.AI to put a halt to using all the chatbots based on Disney characters with immediate effect. According to the studio, Character.AI has been using some of the most popular characters from Disney's large scale franchises like Star Wars, Marvel, Mickey Mouse, and Frozen. The warning by Disney has been issued via a cease and desist letter sent on September 18, 2025. As reported by NBC News who also reviewed a copy of the letter, Disney has alleged that Character.AI had systematically reproduced, monetized, and exploited its copyrighted and trademarked characters without any legitimate

permission, in a way that is anathema to the very essence of the Disney brand and legacy.Character.AI has issued its response on the matter and has also taken down all the disputed content. The officials from California-based startup said, 'We respond swiftly to requests to remove content that rightsholders report to us. The takedown was in response to such a request. These characters have been removed.'

A Little More About Character.AI

Character.AI was founded in 2021 and serves as a platform containing multiple AI characters with different personalities that chat with people. Some of the characters available on the platform are created by the company, while a lot of them have been generated by the users. With time, the platform also includes characters like Darth Vader, Spider-Man, Elsa, and more. These character generations crossed the line in terms of copyright.Starting from this week, most of the bots that infringed copyright have been removed from the platform, and if someone searches for them, then they are met with error messages. However, Character.AI has said that this doesn't qualify as copyright infringement and its more of a fan fiction kind of thing. Character.AI also said, 'Our goal is to give IP owners the tools to create controlled, engaging, and revenue-generating experiences from deep fandom.'