A new AI-powered app that creates interactive avatars of deceased loved ones has ignited major backlash, Forbes reported.
2wai, co-founded by former Disney Channel star Calum Worthy, allows users to generate digital recreations capable of real-time conversations, drawing widespread criticism and comparisons to dystopian science fiction.
Worthy posted an advertisement for 2wai on X earlier this week, which quickly accumulated more than 22 million views. The ad depicts an expectant mother communicating with an AI-generated avatar of her deceased mother, showing interactions as her son grows up and eventually has children of his own.
What if the loved ones we've lost could be part of our future? pic.twitter.com/oFBGekVo1R
— Calum Worthy (@CalumWorthy) November 11, 2025
The app generates these avatars after users film their loved ones speaking and moving for just three minutes.
"With 2wai, three minutes can last forever," the company declared, with Worthy claiming they are "building a living archive of humanity," per the article.
The app launched a beta version on iOS over the summer and secured $5 million in seed funding, collaborating with British Telecom, Globe Telecom, and IBM.
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The new app raises serious questions about how we process grief and remember those we lost. Critics argued the app profits from mourning and potentially prevents healthy emotional processing, per the BBC.
Meanwhile, the environmental cost of AI and large language model-based technology continues to grow. Training and running these models requires massive amounts of energy and water for data center cooling, contributing to pollution and resource depletion.
Many people compared the 2wai app to an episode of TV series Black Mirror titled "Be Right Back," which depicts a woman creating an AI recreation of her deceased boyfriend with tragic consequences.
"That was LITERALLY a Black Mirror episode," one X user noted. "Absolutely tragic and should not be considered a how-to manual for the future."
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No way 🙅 Another X user said the app is "objectively one of the most evil ideas imaginable."
A third X user called the endeavor "demonic, dishonest, and dehumanizing," stating they would never want an AI-generated persona created from their likeness.
"My value dies with me. I'm not an avatar," they wrote.
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