EXCLUSIVE: Hans Ku, a former Disney, DreamWorks and Yahoo exec, has been named Chief Product Officer at Utopai Studios.
In his new post, Ku will lead product, engineering, research and business development. He will aim to increase the scale of the technology behind the emerging firm’s film and TV slate along with expanding the company’s cinematic storytelling engine.
Ku most recently had been VP of AI & Engineering in Disney’s Office of Technology Enablement. He played a key role in Disney’s connection with OpenAI around the well-funded start-up’s generative video offering, Sora. At the end of 2025, Disney swung a deal with OpenAI to license characters for use on Sora in exchange for a $1 billion equity investment. The arrangement was later undone after Sora was shuttered.
Prior to his AI stint at Disney, Ku also worked at Walt Disney Deature Animation, where he created a system to help traditional animators online. As an exec at DreamWorks Animation, he also created the DreamColor display in collaboration with HP, which netted him a Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In addition to those entertainment-oriented roles, Ku has also been an entrepreneur and a product exec at Tubi, Yahoo and TikTok predecessor Flipagram.
Utopai Studios, founded in 2022, recently raised $60 million in funding at a $1 billion valuation. It is among the firms benefiting from the industry’s gradually increasing willingness to embrace AI (albeit within certain parameters) after the technology had initially set off alarms about job losses.
“Hans knows what it takes to move emerging technology from experimentation into an organization operating at global scale,” said Cecilia Shen, CEO and co-founder of Utopai Studios, in a statement. “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.”
Utopai “has the opportunity to build something fundamentally different because the studio and the technology are growing together,” Ku said. “We can take what we learn from real productions, turn those lessons directly into better products and workflows, and then bring those capabilities to filmmakers and studios around the world. My focus is on building PAI alongside filmmakers, giving them better tools to explore ideas, refine their work, and bring their creative vision to the screen while keeping creative decisions in their hands.”
