Who Gets Your Character.AI Chats? How to Save and Delete Them Before the Sale
40 attorneys general want limits on who can buy Character.AI users' chats. What the bankruptcy sale means for your conversations, and how to download and delete them before the auction.
Character.AI is being sold off in bankruptcy, and on 14 October 2026 attorneys general from 39 states and Washington D.C. told the court they want limits on who can buy what users typed into it. If you have years of private conversations on there, this is the part of the bankruptcy that actually affects you. Here is what the states asked for, what is and is not in the sale so far, and how to download and delete your chats before the auction.
What the states asked the court for
Character Technologies filed for Chapter 11 in Delaware on 12 October 2026. We covered the filing itself here. Two days later a coalition of 40 attorneys general filed a notice of interest in the case. It is not a lawsuit. It is the states putting the court on notice that they will be watching the sale and setting out what they expect from any buyer.
Their concern is simple. Character.AI holds an enormous amount of very personal writing, much of it from people who treated their characters as a confidant, and some of it from teenagers. The states argue that should not change hands like office furniture. Their list of conditions comes down to this:
- Delete before the sale. Every user should be able to see and delete their data before anything is sold.
- No training on your chats without consent. A buyer should not be able to use private conversations to train AI or for advertising beyond what people originally agreed to.
- Real age checks. Age assurance that does more than ask for a birthday, and minors kept out of open-ended chat.
- No fake professionals. Characters posing as therapists, doctors or lawyers removed.
- Proper crisis handling. Real protocols for self-harm, suicide and eating disorders.
- A real privacy programme, clear disclosures, and advertising opt-outs that work per account rather than per device.
The states also reserved the right to ask the court for a consumer privacy ombudsman, an independent official whose job is to tell the judge what a sale would mean for people's personal data. That is the step to watch. If one is appointed, your chats get someone in the room arguing for them.
Is Disney getting your chats?
No. Disney is the opening bidder at 20 million dollars, but its offer is a non-exclusive licence to Character.AI's code and patents. The terms reported so far leave out user data, user chats, the app and the brand. Those all stay in the bankruptcy estate, which means they are still available to other bidders.
That is the uncomfortable part. Disney walking away with some technology does not decide what happens to the conversations. Whoever wins the rest of the estate does, under whatever conditions the court attaches.
The dates that matter
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 12 October 2026 | Chapter 11 filing in Delaware. |
| 14 October 2026 | 40 attorneys general file their notice of interest. |
| 20 November 2026 | Proposed deadline for bids. |
| 23 November 2026 | Proposed auction. |
| 24 November 2026 | Proposed sale hearing, where the judge approves a buyer. |
| 17 December 2026 | Outside date in Disney's deal. |
The proposed dates can still move, but plan around them. Anything you want to keep or remove should be done well before the auction.
How to download your Character.AI chats
Character.AI has a data export. The catch is time: the company says an export can take three to four weeks to arrive. If you request one today, it should land before the auction. If you wait until November, it may not.
- On the website, open your Profile, then Profile Settings.
- Go to Account, then Manage Account & Data.
- Choose Export Data.
- Wait for the email with your download link. Reporting suggests the link expires after about seven days, so download it as soon as it arrives and keep a copy somewhere safe.
How to delete your Character.AI account
If you would rather your conversations were not part of whatever gets sold, deleting is the only control you have. Do the export first, because deletion is permanent.
- Wait until your export has arrived and you have downloaded it.
- Go back to Profile Settings, Account, Manage Account & Data.
- Choose Delete Account and confirm.
One honest caveat. Child-safety groups have pointed out that deleting your account removes your data from the service, but nobody outside the company can say whether conversations were already used to train models before you deleted. Deletion protects you from the sale. It cannot undo what happened in the past.
If you are only going to do one thing
Request the export today. It costs nothing, takes a minute, and it is the step that runs out of time. You can decide about deleting once the file is safely on your device.
Taking your characters somewhere else
A chat export keeps your history. It does not rebuild your characters for you. For the ones you made, copy the name, greeting, description and definition into a document while you still can.
Your chats can come with you too. RolePlaya imports Character.AI chats, from the official export or a CAI Tools download, so a story carries on where it left off. Here is how to import them.
If you want to carry on with them, RolePlaya's create form takes that text directly, and it can also fill itself in from a saved JSON file or a character card image. Every character on RolePlaya gets a voice, conversations keep their memory, and you can delete any chat from your history yourself. It is an 18+ site built for long-form roleplay, and the free tier has no adverts.
Rebuild a character on RolePlaya or compare the alternatives first.
Frequently asked questions
Are my Character.AI chats being sold?
Not yet, and possibly not at all. Disney's opening bid leaves user data and chats out, so they remain in the bankruptcy estate. Whether they are sold, to whom and under what conditions is decided at the sale, which 40 attorneys general have asked the court to restrict.
How long does a Character.AI data export take?
The company says three to four weeks. The download link reportedly expires after about seven days once it arrives, so download it promptly.
Does deleting my account stop my chats being sold?
Deleting removes your data from the service, which is the main protection you have before a sale. It cannot reverse any use of your conversations that happened before you deleted.
Is Character.AI still working?
Yes. The platform keeps running during the bankruptcy, and accounts and subscriptions stay active. What happens after the proposed sale hearing on 24 November depends on who buys it.
Can I carry on my Character.AI chats somewhere else?
Yes. RolePlaya imports Character.AI chats from the official export or a CAI Tools download, and the character picks the story up where you left off. It is free on every plan.
Can I move my Character.AI characters to another site?
Yes, by copying their name, greeting and definition. Sites that accept pasted definitions or character cards, including RolePlaya, can rebuild them from that text.
Character.AI, c.ai and Disney are trademarks of their respective owners. RolePlaya is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or connected to any of them. This page reflects publicly reported information as of 17 October 2026, including the New York Attorney General's announcement of the multistate notice and reporting by KQED and others on the sale timetable. Bankruptcy dates can change, so check the latest before relying on them.
