The AI Tools Association published a guide for Character.AI users after Character Technologies, the company behind the platform, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware on October 12, 2026, citing legal, regulatory and operational pressures. The platform remains operational, but its long-term future depends on a court-supervised sale, and some reports say a wind-down is possible if no acceptable buyer emerges. Disney has made an opening bid of $20 million for a non-exclusive license to part of the company's intellectual property, and other bidders can still compete under bankruptcy rules. The guide addresses roughly 12 million users, warning that user data can be treated as a company asset in bankruptcy proceedings; a coalition of state attorneys general has filed notice in the case and reserved the right to challenge a sale or seek stronger protections for consumer information. Disney's reported bid covers intellectual property rather than user chats, and no public statement has yet detailed what would happen to user data if a different buyer acquired different assets. The guide advises users to request a data export first and delete their account only after the file arrives, noting that exports can take three to four weeks and download links expire after about seven days, and it compares six alternatives by use case: roleplay (Janitor AI, Chai), companionship (Replika, Kindroid) and emotional support (Therapy-Chats.com, Flamme AI).