As low‑cost synthetic video proliferates, Grous said he believes audiences will begin to mentally divide entertainment into “pre‑AI” and “post‑AI” categories, attaching a premium to work made largely by humans before generative tools became ubiquitous. “I think you’re going to have basically a split between pre-AI content and post-AI content,” adding that viewers will consider pre-AI content closer to “true art, that was made with just human ingenuity and creativity, not this AI slop, for lack of a better word.”
Within that framework, Grous argued Disney’s real advantage is not just Sora access, but the depth of its pre‑AI catalog across animation, live‑action films, and television. Iconic franchises like Star Wars, classic princess films and legacy animated characters become building blocks for a global experiment in AI‑assisted storytelling, with fans effectively test‑marketing new scenarios at scale.
“I actually think, and this might be counterintuitive, that the pre-AI content that existed, the Harry Potter, the Star Wars, all of the content that we’ve grown up with … that actually becomes incrementally more valuable to the entertainment landscape,” Grous said. On the one hand, he said, there are deals like Disney and OpenAI’s where IP can become user-generated content, but on the other, IP represents a robust content pipeline for future shows, movies, and the like.
Grous sketched a feedback loop in which Disney can watch what AI‑generated character combinations or story setups resonate online, then selectively “pull up” the most promising concepts into professionally produced, higher‑budget projects for Disney+ or theatrical release. From Disney’s perspective, he added, “we didn’t know Cinderella walking down Broadway and interacting with these types of characters, whatever it may be, was something that our audience would be interested in.” The OpenAI deal is exciting because Disney can bring that content onto its streaming arm Disney+ and make it more premium. “We’re going to use our studio chops to build this into something that’s a bit more luxury than what just an individual can create.”
For streaming rivals, the Disney-OpenAI pact is a strategic warning shot. Grous argued the soaring price tags in the bidding war for Warner Bros. between Netflix and Paramount shows the importance of IP for the next phase of entertainment. “I think the reason this bidding [for Warner Bros.] is approaching $100 billion-plus is the content library and the potential to do a Disney-OpenAI type of deal.” In other words, whoever controls Batman and the like will control the inevitable AI-generated versions of those characters, although “they could take a franchise like Harry Potter and then just create slop around it.”
In that environment, the Ark analyst suggests Disney’s OpenAI deal is less of a one‑off licensing win than an early template for how legacy media owners might survive and thrive in an AI‑saturated market. The companies with rich pre‑AI catalogs and a willingness to experiment with new tools, he argued, will be best positioned to stand out amid the “AI slop” and turn nostalgia‑laden IP into enduring, flexible assets for the post‑AI age.
Editor’s note: the author worked for Netflix from June 2024 through July 2025.
