Character.AI bankruptcy: how to save a copy of your chats

Short answer: Character.AI still works, your chats are still there, and you can export or delete them right now. What nobody can promise yet is who will own those conversations after the company is sold. If your chats matter to you, request an export today, because it can take weeks to arrive.

What happened

Character Technologies, the company behind Character.AI, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 12, 2026. Chapter 11 is not a shutdown. It is a court-supervised process that lets a company keep running while it reorganizes or, in this case, looks for a buyer.

In court filings, CEO Colin Adams pointed to "significant legal, regulatory and operational headwinds": the cost of lawsuits brought by families of teenagers, investigations by dozens of states, and the difficulty of becoming profitable. The company says it expects the sale to close in late November or early December 2026.

One deal is already on the table. Disney agreed to pay $20 million for a non-exclusive license to Character.AI's technology. According to KQED, that offer does not include users' data or chats, so any sale of the conversations themselves would have to go to someone else.

Does the app still work?

Yes. Character.AI says it keeps operating during the sale and that paid subscriptions stay active. If paid features change, the company says subscribers will be told in advance.

A bankruptcy filing does not cancel your subscription on its own. If you no longer want to pay, cancel it yourself in the app store or account settings you used to subscribe.

What happens to your chats?

This is the open question. Character.AI says your information "continues to be protected" under its privacy policy. But that same policy, like most privacy policies, allows user data to be transferred as part of a sale. The company has not said whether chats are among the assets being sold, or whether a buyer would be bound by today's promises.

State regulators are pushing back. Attorneys general from dozens of states have asked the court to set conditions on any buyer, including letting every user delete their data before a sale and limiting the use of chats to train AI. They may also ask for a consumer privacy ombudsman, an independent advisor the court can appoint when personal data is part of a bankruptcy sale.

There is a recent example of how this can go. When the genetic testing company 23andMe went through bankruptcy, its customers' data was sold to a new owner despite objections from many states. That does not mean the same will happen here, but it is why privacy advocates are telling people not to wait.

If the company cannot find a buyer, it has said the platform will be wound down.

What you can do today

1. Export your data

Character.AI lets you download a copy of your account data, including your chats.

• On the web: open your profile, then Profile Settings, Account, Manage Account & Data, and choose Export Data.
• In the mobile app: open your profile, then Settings, Legal & Privacy, and Export Data.

According to Character.AI's help center, as reported by KQED, an export can take three to four weeks, and the download link in the email expires after seven days. Request it now, watch your inbox (and spam folder), and download the file as soon as it arrives. Some users report getting the file much faster, but plan for the long version.

The export is a snapshot. Chats you have after you request it may not be included.

2. Decide whether to delete your account

Deleting your account is the strongest step you can take before a sale. If you want to keep your conversations, download the export first, then delete.

One honest caveat from privacy experts: deleting your account removes your data from the service, but it may not undo any use of your chats that has already happened, for example in training AI models.

3. Talk to your teen

Many Character.AI users are teenagers. If your child uses the app, this is a good moment to look at their account together, decide what to keep, and talk about what they share with chatbots in general.

What to watch next

• The sale hearing. The court has to approve any buyer. Reports put the sale timeline between late November and mid-December 2026.
• Conditions on the buyer. Whether the court accepts the states' demands, especially the right to delete data before a sale.
• What happens to user-created characters. There is no announced arrangement that guarantees a new owner keeps existing characters or conversations.

We will update this article as the case moves forward.

The bigger lesson

Your conversations with any AI app live on a company's servers, and companies can be sold, merged or closed. That is true of every chatbot, not only this one. Every so often, it is worth checking whether an app lets you export your data, and actually doing it for the conversations you would hate to lose.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Facts are based on news reports and company statements available on October 24, 2026.