Black Mirror Come to Life? Former Disney Star Launches AI That Recreates Loved Ones After Death

A new AI-powered app is raising ethical and emotional questions, allowing users to create interactive avatars of deceased relatives. Co-founded by former Disney Channel star Calum Worthy, the app 2wai has sparked widespread debate on social media.

Worthy, known for starring in Austin & Ally, posted an advertisement for the app on X which quickly went viral, gathering more than 22 million views and thousands of critical responses.

How the App Works

In the ad, an expectant mother interacts with an AI-generated avatar of her deceased mother. The app reportedly created the avatar after the woman filmed her mother speaking and moving for three minutes. The scenes depict the AI avatar participating in family events, including the birth of the woman's son, his growth, and the eventual arrival of his own children.

2wai's promotional message stated, 'With 2wai, three minutes can last forever.' Worthy added that the company is 'building a living archive of humanity' and suggested that 'loved ones we've lost could be part of our future.' The ad illustrates the technology's capacity to simulate life-like interactions and preserve a digital representation of a deceased relative for extended periods.

Public Reaction and Criticism

The announcement prompted a surge of criticism online. Worthy's post garnered just 6,000 likes, yet the negative responses far outnumbered positive reactions. One X user called the app 'objectively one of the most evil ideas imaginable,' which received over 210,000 likes. Another comment stated, 'A former Disney Channel star creating the most evil thing I've ever seen in my life wasn't really what I was expecting,' gathering over 139,000 likes.

Additional criticism focused on the app's perceived exploitation of grief. A user described it as 'demonic, dishonest, and dehumanizing,' adding that they would never want an AI-generated persona because 'my value dies with me. I'm not a f—ing avatar.'

The app is free to download but offers premium avatars and digital items for purchase, which some users claim could profit from the emotional vulnerability of users mourning loved ones.

Comparisons to Black Mirror

Many users drew comparisons between 2wai and the television series Black Mirror, a show exploring the dark and dystopian effects of technology. Observers noted its similarity to the episode, Be Right Back, in which a woman creates an AI replica of her deceased boyfriend following a car accident. One user wrote, 'This was LITERALLY a Black Mirror episode, like, I hate when people say that but it is quite specifically season 2 episode 1'.

Critics argued that while the series presents a cautionary narrative, the app appeared to adopt its premise as a model for consumer technology. Another user said the Black Mirror episode was 'absolutely tragic' and should not serve as a 'how-to manual for the future.' Similar AI applications have emerged in the past, including a 2022 Amazon project for its Alexa virtual assistant that mimicked the voices of deceased relatives.

At the time, Amazon senior vice president and head scientist for Alexa, Rohit Prasad, stated that 'While AI can't eliminate that pain of loss, it can definitely make their memories last.'

Netizens have debated whether such technology helps preserve memories or risks creating emotional dependency on artificial recreations.