AI app 2Wai lets users create interactive avatars of deceased loved ones, sparking ethical debate

AI app 2Wai lets users talk to avatars of late relatives, drawing strong reactions and Black Mirror comparisons

A new artificial intelligence app has prompted significant debate after introducing tools that allow users to create interactive digital avatars of deceased relatives. The company behind the project, 2Wai, gained widespread attention when founder Calum Worthy released a promotional video demonstrating the technology in use.

The video shows a pregnant woman speaking to an AI-generated recreation of her late mother through her phone. In a later scene, the avatar reads a bedtime story to the woman’s baby.

The footage then depicts the child growing up while continuing to interact with the AI version of his grandmother, culminating in an adult telling the avatar that she is about to become a great-grandmother.

The video ends with the line, “With 2Wai, three minutes can last forever.” Worthy said the company aims to build “a living archive of humanity” through its avatar-based social network.

The app has drawn comparisons to the 2013 Black Mirror episode Be Right Back, which follows a grieving woman who communicates with an AI model of her deceased partner, reconstructed from his online activity. In that storyline, the technology evolves from chatbot to physical android.

Reactions online have been sharply divided. Several users described the concept as “nightmare fuel” or “demonic,” with others calling for the technology “to be destroyed.” These responses reflect broader public concerns about how far AI should extend into areas involving bereavement, memory and digital representations of the dead.

The discussion has also highlighted speculation about whether increasingly sophisticated AI systems, combined with rapid advances in robotics, could one day make physical android recreations possible, raising further ethical considerations.

2Wai is currently available for free on the Apple App Store, with optional in-app purchases. The company says an Android version of the app is in development and will be released soon.