Character.AI Bankruptcy: How to Save Your Chats and Where to Go Next

Character.AI is in bankruptcy. Here's how to save your chats and pick a new home

Updated November 11, 2026

If you've spent months or years building stories on Character.AI, the news from October probably hit hard. The company behind the site has filed for bankruptcy, and its future now depends on an auction. The site still works today. Nobody can promise it will next year.

This guide covers what happened, the dates that matter, how to export your data, and what to look for if you decide to move.

What happened

Character Technologies, the company that runs Character.AI, filed a voluntary Chapter 11 case in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on October 12, 2026, and announced it to users the next day. Chapter 11 lets a company keep operating while it reorganizes or sells itself under a judge's supervision. Character.AI is using it to sell all or substantially all of its assets.

Disney is the opening bidder. It has offered $20 million for a non-exclusive, perpetual license to certain Character.AI intellectual property. In bankruptcy terms that's a "stalking horse" bid: a price floor that other buyers can top at auction. Pay attention to what the bid covers. It's a license to selected IP, and it doesn't commit Disney to running the app.

Is Character.AI shutting down?

Not yet. The platform is running, and the company says subscriptions and billing are unchanged for now. It has said it will notify subscribers before any change affects paid features.

The open question is what happens after the sale. Character.AI has said that if the process doesn't produce a buyer willing to keep the platform running, it will be wound down.

The dates to watch

Court-approved bidding rules set this calendar:

1. November 18, 4:00 p.m. ET: deadline for most objections to the sale
2. November 24, 12:00 p.m. ET: deadline for competing bids
3. December 1, 10:00 a.m. ET: auction, unless it's cancelled or adjourned
4. December 3 and 4: sale hearing to finalize the deal

The company expects the process to wrap up in late November or early December. That's a projection, and bankruptcy schedules slip.

Why you should export now

Character.AI's help center says a data export takes 3 to 4 weeks to arrive, and the download link expires 7 days after the email is sent. If you request today, your file may land right around the auction. If you wait for the auction results, you could end up requesting your data from a platform that's winding down.

There's also the privacy side. Character.AI's privacy policy, effective July 1, 2026, allows certain user information to be disclosed during negotiations for, or the closing of, an asset sale. The company says its data practices are unchanged during the process. If you'd rather your chats not travel with the sale, you can export and then delete your account. That's your call.

How to export your Character.AI data

Character.AI has no per-chat export button. You request one archive of your whole account, chats included.

On the website:

1. Open your profile and click Profile Settings
2. Click Account, then Manage Account & Data
3. Click Export Data and confirm

In the mobile app:

1. Open your profile and tap the Settings icon
2. Tap Legal & Privacy
3. Tap Export Data

After you request it:

1. Watch your inbox and spam folder for the email with the download link. Search for "export" or "download" if it's buried.
2. Download the file the day it arrives. Seven days goes fast.
3. Keep two copies in separate places, such as your computer and a cloud drive or USB stick.
4. While you wait, copy out anything you can't afford to lose: favorite character definitions, greetings, and story moments. A plain text file is enough.

What to look for in a new home

Whichever platform you move to, you'll be rebuilding your characters from their definitions and your notes. That makes this a good moment to decide what you want from a roleplay site.

Does the character remember?

Most frustrations with AI roleplay come back to memory. A character who forgets your name, your history, or last week's betrayal breaks the story. Ask how a platform handles long chats: does it summarize older messages, store them in chunks, or drop them once the context fills up?

Can you build a world around the character?

Lorebooks (we call these tidbits) hold facts about places, factions, side characters, and history, and pull them into the conversation only when they're relevant. That keeps your main character card lean and your world consistent. Check whether a platform supports lore and how entries get triggered.

Do the content rules fit the stories you write?

Content restrictions are a common reason people looked for Character.AI alternatives long before the bankruptcy. If you write horror, dark fantasy, or mature romance, find a platform whose rules say clearly what's allowed and where.

Is the business behind it sustainable?

This one is new for a lot of people. A free site with millions of users still pays for every message its models generate. Look at how a platform makes money. A clear membership model is less exciting than "free forever," but it's easier to trust with a year of your writing.

Can you get your data out?

Before you put months into a new place, check whether it lets you export your characters and chats, and how quickly.

Where AiRP fits

We built AiRP for writers who want characters that hold together over long stories. It uses keyword-triggered tidbits (lore), so world details show up when the story calls for them, and a chunked memory system, so earlier chapters aren't thrown away when a chat gets long. The site has light and dark modes, an 18+ setting for mature stories, and the AiRP Wired membership.

If you're rebuilding your Character.AI cast, bring your saved definitions and give AiRP a try. If you'd rather stay on Character.AI and see how the auction goes, that's fine too. Export your data first.

FAQ

Did Character.AI go bankrupt?

Character Technologies, which runs Character.AI, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 12, 2026. The site is still operating while the company is sold through a court-supervised process.

Who is buying Character.AI?

Disney made the opening bid of $20 million, for a non-exclusive license to certain intellectual property. Other bidders have until November 24 to top it, and an auction is scheduled for December 1.

Will I lose my Character.AI chats?

Your chats are still on the platform for now. If no buyer agrees to keep the service running, the company says it will wind the platform down. Requesting an export now is the safest option.

How long does a Character.AI data export take?

Character.AI's help center says 3 to 4 weeks. The download link expires 7 days after the email is sent.