Utopai hires Disney AI and engineering exec Hans Ku as chief product officer

California-based IP and franchise development company Utopai Studios has hired Disney exec Hans Ku as chief product officer.

Hans Ku

Ku was most recently VP of AI and engineering in Disney’s Office of Technology Enablement, where he worked on AI-assisted engineering and productivity tools, strategy for generative content and models, and research into AI-native production pipelines. He also played a leadership role in Disney’s collaboration with OpenAI on Sora.

He began his career in entertainment technology at Walt Disney Feature Animation, where he created Creation Station, a paperless drawing and animation system that helped traditional artists move to digital workflows. He also previously worked at DreamWorks Animation, where he conceived and launched the DreamColor colour-critical display with HP.

Before returning to Disney, Ku co-founded Scenely, an AI-native script-to-screen start-up, and served as senior VP of product at Tubi, where his team launched the streaming industry’s first partnership with OpenAI.

With over two decades of experiences across entertainment, technology and content creation, Ku’s career has also included time at Instagram, where he led teams responsible for Instagram.com, the Instagram Design System, mobile experiences and emerging interfaces.

As chief product officer of Flipagram, he helped evolve the platform into TikTok following its acquisition by ByteDance. He also co-founded mobile video creation company Ptch, which Yahoo acquired, before leading Yahoo Video and the launch of Yahoo Live.

At Utopai Studios, Ku will lead product, engineering, research and business development. He will additionally be responsible for scaling the technology supporting Utopai Studios’ film and television slate and expanding PAI, its cinematic storytelling engine for longform productions.

“Hans knows what it takes to move emerging technology from experimentation into an organisation operating at global scale,” said Cecilia Shen, CEO and co-founder of Utopai Studios.

“From developing tools for animators early in his career to helping lead Disney’s collaboration with OpenAI on Sora, Hans has consistently worked at the intersection of creative ambition and emerging technology. He brings that experience to a studio where filmmakers and technology teams develop tools together on active productions. That combination is critical to where Utopai Studios is going next.

“We are building a global studio for a new era of entertainment, and Hans will be central to scaling the technology and infrastructure that make that possible.”