- AI app 2wai can create lifelike AI avatars of deceased loved ones
- A promotional video sparked heated debate and some disgust.
- 2wai touts ‘digital immortality’ but offends many
Former Disney Channel star Callum Worthy has recently been working on AI as the co-founder of a startup called 2wai (pronounced “too-why”), which uses AI to create clones of people using just a few minutes of video and details about their personality. But some people are baffled by the idea of an app that allows users to talk to deceased loved ones, as seen in the commercial Worthy promoted for his company.
The ad shows a young pregnant woman having a video conversation with her mother. In a montage of babies growing up, the grandmother never seems to age as she continues to give advice. It’s only in the final moments that viewers learn that the grandma in question is a composite avatar born from a three-minute video recording.
The responses to Worthy’s post convey that fear. clear black mirror Comparisons and exaggerated calls to end necromancy sit alongside more subtle and serious concerns about privacy and how using 2wai in this way may affect the grieving process.
But there’s more to 2wai than just viral marketing around grief. The app, developed by Worthy and founder Russell Geyser, aims to be a kind of social network for avatars. In addition to being able to record their own and others’ posthumous interactions, users can also recreate historical icons with AI, use chatbots for cooking and travel tips, and even interact with a digital version of Worthy himself.
What if the loved ones we lost might be part of our future? pic.twitter.com/oFBGekVo1RNovember 11, 2025
AI necromancy
The company describes all of this as a “living archive of humanity,” but it actually falls somewhere between a digital diary and an educational simulator. Get advice from Florence Nightingale, plan a picnic with Henry VIII, and chat with your descendants even after you’ve passed away by uploading a portrait of yourself. The app’s pitch is sentimental, but public reaction shows that the public isn’t yet ready to upload their deceased relatives to the App Store maelstrom.
Immortalizing yourself to preserve your voice for future generations sounds poetic, but you realize that it also creates a simulation of yourself that you won’t actually have control over once you’re gone. Who will take responsibility if your AI twin starts doing things you would never do? And what if it happens without you knowing? 2wai could open a Pandora’s box of what consent, memory and digital identity mean.
2wai isn’t the first company to dabble in the revival of AI. Companies like Replika and HereAfter have been exploring digital companions and memory preservation for years. They face similar questions regarding their business models. This app is currently available for free, but you should expect that this service will require a subscription or other service. Will my family pay to keep Grandma’s avatar active beyond the trial period?
The tension between emotion and commerce is an ethical maelstrom. Ordinary people may not object A chatbot that helps you choose pasta sauce. But things get even murkier when you bring in a deceased mother, a childhood pet, or a historical figure repackaged for profit.
Still, 2wai provides a digital life raft of sorts. For parents who want their voice to outlast them, it can be difficult to resist that voice, even if the avatar is smart enough to know it’s not them, even if they don’t actually have any sentience or self-awareness.
For now, 2wai is very real and very live. Download it, record yourself, and leave your personality behind for your great-grandchildren or strangers on the internet to interact with. Only time will tell whether that future is comfortable, commercial, or closer to the horrors of the Uncanny Valley. And it’s up to us to decide. Or maybe it depends on our avatar. You can view the entire ad below.
Of course you can also do Follow TechRadar on TikTok Check out news, reviews, and unboxings in video format and stay updated regularly. whatsapp Too.
The perfect business laptop for every budget
