A new app is stirring controversy online due to its feature that allows users to connect with deceased relatives via AI avatars.
The rapid advancement of technology and artificial intelligence is raising concerns among many regarding their potential applications.
A video circulating on social media highlights a company’s vision of using AI to facilitate interactions with real-life individuals, even after they have passed away.
The company behind this concept, 2wai, describes its platform as one that “enables users to create and interact with lifelike HoloAvatars via the web and the 2wai app.”
The company further explains: “HoloAvatars are generated holographically in just 3 minutes using video footage captured by users and allow real‑time, two‑way interaction like never before.”
This concept has sparked a debate on social media, with many expressing concerns over the ethical implications.
In the promotional video by 2wai, an AI avatar of a deceased elderly woman is shown interacting with her daughter, who is expecting a child.
The narrative continues, depicting the child growing up and engaging with the deceased relative via the AI app over the years.
The video concludes with the elderly woman being scanned and answering questions while recorded by her daughter, seemingly for the purpose of creating the AI avatar.
Calum Worthy, co-founder of the company and known for his role in the Disney Channel series Austin & Ally, has shared the video online and has also faced criticism.
One critic commented: “You know they’ll introduce a tier where your dead relative starts reading you advertisements.”
Another person remarked: “This is creepy AF, going to be living with this nightmare.”
A third stated: “What a wonderful idea — gradually replace my internal representation and memories of my deceased loved ones with AI slop!”
Another added: “This made me cry tears of horrifying sadness for what our society is becoming.
“To say that this is absolutely terrible doesn’t do justice to the awfulness this is. It is hard to shake the dread I feel come over me when I see this.”
Additionally, someone commented: “Letting go of loved ones and getting your heart broken is a crucial part of the human experience.
“This is a genuinely inhumane idea, and I don’t use that word lightly. Nothing good can come to anybody who uses it.”
On the other hand, some users support the app, comparing the backlash to resistance faced by other technological advancements.
One supporter wrote: “I’m not opposed. How is it different from passing a grandparent’s writings, photos, & lore down to the children.”
Another added: “I love it! These hypocrites spew all this moral superiority, telling us how we get to remember people we love, condemning anything they don’t understand as if they know what’s wrong.”
Contact has been made with 2wai for their comments on the matter.