The founder of Reddit, Alexis Ohanian, took to X this weekend to share an AI-generated video of himself and his mom from when he was a young boy — provoking debate and criticism.
In the emotional post, Ohanian explains that he lost his mom at a young age and has no video of the two of them together. “Damn, I wasn’t ready for how this would feel,” he writes.
Damn, I wasn’t ready for how this would feel. We didn’t have a camcorder, so there’s no video of me with my mom. I dropped one of my favorite photos of us in midjourney as ‘starting frame for an AI video’ and wow… This is how she hugged me. I’ve rewatched it 50 times. pic.twitter.com/n2jNwdCkxF
— Alexis Ohanian 🗽 (@alexisohanian) June 22, 2025
Ohanian made the video with the help of Midjourney which, as PetaPixel reported last week, has just rolled out its first AI video generator model allowing users to animate a still image.
“I dropped one of my favorite photos of us in Midjourney as ‘starting frame for an AI video’ and wow… This is how she hugged me. I’ve rewatched it 50 times,” Ohanian says poignantly.
‘Cognitive Security Rule 1: Do not do this’
X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has a cynical user base and people were quick to criticize AI technology for its ability to create false memories.
“They’re outsourcing their memories to machines,” writes Matt Boileau. “Replace your real memories with fake memories for only 19.99 a month,” adds Bobby.
Some compared it to the Mirror of Erised from the first Harry Potter film, The Sorcerer’s Stone, which Harry gets lost in looking at an image of his two deceased parents standing next to him.
“Be careful with this. Human memories are very malleable, and you’ll remember what the AI shows you whether it’s true or not, “Elizabeth Greene writes beneath Ohanian’s post.
Bringing People Back From the Dead with AI
The technology employed by Midjourney is nothing new; in fact, the company is actually quite a way behind its competitors. Last year, Alien: Romulus brought back beloved actor Ian Holm so he could appear one more time in the long-running movie franchise and some services allow grieving family members to create AI versions of their loved lost ones.
It is easy to see why people are uneasy around such technology. Consultant at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, Alessandra Lemma, told Al Jazeera that prolonged use of such services could stop people from properly processing grief and leave them in a state of “limbo.”
“The biggest concern that I have as a clinician is that mourning is actually very important. It’s an important part of development that we are able to acknowledge the missing of another person,” she said.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.