A new app that uses AI to create digital versions of people has caused a huge backlash online. The app is called 2wai and was released by a tech company in Los Angeles through the Apple store.
According to Unilad, the app lets people make what the company calls a HoloAvatar. The company’s website says these digital versions look and sound like you and can even remember the same things you do. But what has really upset people is how the app can be used to recreate people who have died. Co-founder Calum Worthy shared a video on X (formerly Twitter) that has now been seen more than a million times.
The video shows a digital version of an old woman helping her daughter during her pregnancy through a phone. Then it shows the digital grandma watching her grandson grow up and talking with him. Later in the video, the grown grandson asks his digital grandma for advice when his own wife gets pregnant. One person on social media said it was “this is one of the Most Vile things I’ve seen in my life.”
This app lets you talk to dead relatives and people are not happy
The video ends with the words “With 2wai, three minutes can last forever.” Worthy wrote with the post: “What if the loved ones we’ve lost could be part of our future? At 2wai, we’re building a living archive of humanity, one story at a time.”
But most people who saw it did not like the idea at all. One person said: “Death and Loss is a normal part of life. You’re creating dependent and lobotomized adults by doing this. Actually vile.” This is not the first time people have worried about AI chatbot safety and ethical problems.
Someone else was even more upset about it. They wrote: “Demonic, dishonest, and dehumanizing. If I die and you put words in my mouth I will curse you for all eternity. My value dies with me. I’m not a fucking avatar.” A lot of people said the idea reminded them of an episode from Black Mirror that came out in 2013. One person posted: “Another thing Black Mirror warned about way back in 2013.”
The episode is called Be Right Back and tells the story of a woman named Martha who talks to an AI version of her boyfriend Ash after he dies in a car accident. The AI uses his old social media posts to copy how he talked and acted. Martha even gets a robot that looks like him. At the end of the episode, she keeps the robot hidden in her attic so her daughter can meet her dead father.
Right now, the app can be downloaded for free but you have to pay for some features inside it. The company says an Android version will be available soon. Even though the company wants to create a “living archive of humanity,” most people seem to think turning dead loved ones into AI avatars is creepy rather than helpful.
Published: Nov 18, 2025 01:15 pm