Alexis Ohanian, the husband of tennis legend Serena Williams, is not just a successful entrepreneur; he is also an artist with a flair for creativity. Known for his whimsical pancake art that earned him the nickname “Papa Pancakes,” but are pancakes his only drawing board? No! He’s quite an artist himself. Remember in December 2024, when he shared sketches of a bunny he learned via a YouTube tutorial? That was just a small glimpse into Alexis’ creative side, and it’s not the last of it! He has now taken a bold leap into the world of AI.

On April 1, he posted a few stories on his Instagram profile. He shared photos of his childhood drawings that he did back when he was just nine years old! Underneath the sketch of a strong superhero wearing a mask with buffed up muscles, he wrote, “9 year old me would’ve loved this. I’m finding my old sketches and turning them into beautifully drawn comic art.” And proceeded to share the AI version of these images! With two more superheroes from his childhood that he created– one whom he called the ‘Thrasher, King of The Nocturnals’ and another muscular hero with long locks of hair. The AI chatbot did a good job of bringing his childhood pieces to life!

There’s more! Along with this, he shared a picture of his seven-year-old daughter, Olympia, and their dog, asking AI to create a picture with the girl’s name as “Super Model” & Dora, his five-year-old dog. The AI illustration was a big hit for Ohanian, who captioned it, “Also fun with Jr” noting that he can’t leave his daughter out of it.

Surely, you’ve heard of the trend of asking an AI chatbot to recreate some of your favorite pictures into thematic artwork by now. It began with some users asking ChatGPT to turn their photographs into a popular Japanese art style called ‘Studio Ghibli’ created by Miyazaki Hayao, Takahata Isao, and producer Suzuki Toshio. Who created a world of magical animated movies like ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ and ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’. This visionary dream inspired users to see themselves through these lenses via AI.

He added images of him and Alexis from the Athlos meet last year, but in Studio Ghibli form! From the iconic photo of the father and daughter in the stands to Olympia’s solo photos of her running on the track and holding a crown over her head, he captured it all with the use of AI. Even changed his header on X to the AI-generated image of Alexis and Olympia’s Studio Ghibli photo!

Through it all, Alexis has shown just how seriously he takes his role as a dad and finds ways to make it memorable through these trends and activities. Now, seeing more of Alexis’s creative side, it’s clear that he’s had his priorities straight from a young age. Whether it’s art or choosing what’s right for him and his family, Ohanian has excelled for years!

Alexis reveals why he chose to leave Reddit

Alexis Ohanian‘s artistic talent played a pivotal role in shaping his success! Back when he was just 19, Ohanian sketched the initial layout of Reddit before its official launch. In a LinkedIn post, he fondly mentioned that his father saved the notebook from the “founding of Reddit, Inc.” In that notebook, he “scribbled my first designs for everything from the name “Reddit” (everyone else hated it, lol), the upvote + downvote arrows, site layout, subreddits (first draft name “groups” — I really wanted tags instead, but subreddits were the right structure), to a recommended page that never ended up working well enough (it was 2005, after all).” Fast forward to today, and the company is worth $7.5 billion!

But there’s more to the story! Ohanian resigned from Reddit, a company he co-founded two decades ago in 2005, to push for more Black representation. The 41-year-old has always wanted to be the best hero for his daughters along side Serena Williams. On March 25, he shared a clip on Instagram, explaining the real reason behind leaving Reddit. It wasn’t about chasing profits.

He said, “When I stepped away from Reddit, I resigned in protest from the board, urging companies to ban hate communities and some of the things I found pretty offensive. It’s funny, I naively thought that would motivate a bunch of other executives to resign as well. Turns out no one else did. But I had this identity crisis to first couple of months because here’s this company I spent 15, 16 years of my life building, and now I had to figure out who I was going to be for the rest of my years.”

So, how did he find his way? “Olympia was, in many ways, my North Star. And I said, I want to keep building businesses, and I want to be doing it in a way that I know I’m going to be proud of. So that’s why I started Seven Seven Six. I’m going to use this to drive the best possible business outcomes in a way that I can brag to my daughters and hopefully grandkids about one day,” Ohanian added. It’s clear that Ohanian balances his personal and professional lives! What do you think? Share your thoughts below!