Reddit co-founder recreates touching video with late mother using AI
What's the story
Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of popular social media platform Reddit and husband of tennis star Serena Williams, has created an emotional video with his late mother, Anke Ohanian. The video was made using artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Anke passed away from terminal brain cancer in 2008. Ohanian took to X to share the heartwarming clip and recalled how he had no videos of his mother.
Tech use
How the video was made
To recreate a cherished childhood moment, Ohanian fed Midjourney, a popular AI tool, an old photo of him hugging his mother, and asked it to create a video from it. The result was stunning and deeply moving for Ohanian. "Damn, I wasn't ready for how this would feel," he said in his post on X while sharing the final result.
Public reaction
The post went viral on X
The AI-generated video has racked up over 8.5 million views, with over 800 comments. While many were amazed by the technological feat, others raised concerns about privacy and the implications of such technology. "It's not how she hugged you. You've been given a false memory," a user wrote. Another said, "A few months from now you'll be talking to dead people resurrected from their social media posts in VR." Third wrote, "Be careful with this. Human memories are very malleable."
Twitter Post
Ohanian responds to the concerns raised by users
I lost my mom almost 20 years ago. Trolls can rest assured I’ve grieved sufficiently. My family couldn’t afford a camcorder and using tech to generate few seconds of animation from a still is the equivalent of using AI to stabilize a poorly recorded video — or fill in the gaps of…
— Alexis Ohanian 🗽 (@alexisohanian) June 23, 2025
Personal impact
Impact of his mother's illness on his life
Ohanian, who co-founded Reddit in 2005, has often spoken about how his mother's illness impacted his life and career. Anke was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer just months after Reddit's early growth. "Her diagnosis had a tremendous impact on my career and life," he said in an Instagram post back in 2022.