Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian posted a short video of his late mother holding him. Not because the video was a time capsule of a long ago moment, but because it was based on something that only had still images.
Ohanian used Midjourney's new AI video generation feature to create videos based on one photo. For him, it's a time machine that ranges from decades ago to six seconds. Millions of other viewers shared interpretations of the clip, but a considerable number of dissenting voices warned that it was a false memory that could ruin Ohania's mother's true memory.
Regardless of how people felt about the video, it was clear that most people felt something visceral about the facsimile of speculative moments. “This is how she held me,” Ohanian wrote. And that sentence alone lays the heartbreak and hope of the digital age. The pain of remembering more clearly, suppressing those who went, using the machine for intimate things rather than for profit or surveillance. human.
There is no shortage of AI tricks floating around right now. You can generate images of cats as Olympic divers, family picnics as animated cartoons, or images of children of future occupations. In most cases, these are light and interesting trends that show the big problems surrounding AI. But this is not a disposable video for Ohanian. This is a clip that reveals that he will be a treasure. And whether he's using AI to keep his mother's memories alive, or whether he's constructing false memories as he feels the real thing is slipping away, he's not the first, and definitely brings more attention to the idea than ever before.
There is a strange vulnerability to inviting machines to guess your memory. It feels like you're asking a stranger to end your dreams. I don't know your mom. I don't know how she laughed, or how tightly she held you. I just know the pixels. But sometimes pixels are everything we have.
We know what it's like to hope for more videos and photos of someone, especially if they lose someone before their smartphone or camcorder tracks every moment. Ohanian said his family couldn't afford a video camera. He does not have his own video with his mother. That's the picture of a hug on the meadow. But with the help of some prompts and sophisticated AI models, it lives on again.
I lost my mother almost 20 years ago. I'm sad enough, so the troll can be relieved. My family can't afford a video camera, and using Tech to generate animations for seconds from stills would either stabilize unrecorded videos using AI or…June 23, 2025
I don't think the only discomfort that many have expressed is Alexis Ohanian's video or whether he chose to make it and share it. I think it's what it means to have this option in the worst case scenario. It's easy to see this moment as the beginning of a dark, gloomy trend.
If it helps Ohanians get closer to their mothers, I think it's fine. The image itself is not something that is fictional. It only externalized the memory of his own embrace. It's more of a tactile version than saving you the last voicemail of your parents or leaving it around their favorite scented candles as it will make you smile. Ohanian doesn't pretend that the video is anything but memory aid. Using AI to create false memories may be a real problem, but this is not the case here.
I remember AI videos
After Ohanian's post went viral, people began sharing photos of their own animated family. For now, these are just fragments, quiet and easy. But judging people's grief and how to treat it is not something I want to do, no matter how long, unless it hurts anyone. A fair evaluation must be personal.
So I did the same thing as the Ohanians. I celebrated Hanukkah in the early 1990s and found a photo of my mother, who passed away 13 years ago. I used hailuo (of Olympia's cat fame) to create a video based on grainy images from my childhood. As for its value, I know my mother was always looking for ways to support every aspect of my life, so I know that my mother was excited to be involved.
The video is fine. I don't quite match how she and I view the photos, but I think the quality of the images is as much of a obstacle there as AI's whim. I put it aside and the video allowed me to imagine the moment from my younger perspective. That was an interesting feeling. But whether it was due to a quick, dead prompt or just my own situation, I did not feel it evoked a deeper connection with my late mother. I think there are a lot of people who feel the same way if they try.
Just because it was a bit hollow to me doesn't mean that I can't benefit others without hinting at my understanding of my past. I don't think Ohanian is trying to replace his mother's memories with an AI filmmaker. I think he's trying to feel compared to getting a little closer to her.
Of course, our love for those who have passed away is not the only thing that AI amplifies. It can also amplify our fears, our longings, our ability to deceive ourselves. This technology is powerful, especially when it comes to personal. But for now, it's just a way for Ohanians to surface their favorite memories of embrace from their mothers, and AI models have even worse uses.
