The Facts
- Former Disney Channel star Calum Worthy, who co-founded the AI company 2wai with Hollywood producer Russell Geyser, has launched an iOS app that creates interactive digital avatars called HoloAvatars from three minutes of recorded footage.
- The 2wai app allows users to create AI recreations of deceased loved ones that can engage in conversations. The company claims these avatars look and sound like the original person and even share the same memories through its proprietary technology.
- Worthy's promotional video on X shows a pregnant woman speaking to an AI version of her deceased mother. The digital grandmother later interacted with her grandson throughout his life, from infancy to adulthood.
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The Spin
Techno-skeptic narrative
This demonic app represents a deeply troubling intrusion on humanity's natural relationship with death and memory. The technology not only creates false hope through unreliable illusions that dehumanize the deceased by turning them into puppets, but also leaves their likeness vulnerable to potential misuse — such as for advertising — raising serious questions about privacy and consent. Companies are exploiting grief for profit while undermining millennia of human civilization's moral foundations.
Techno-optimist narrative
Society's extreme technophobia against AI is blinding people to the genuine benefits of digital connection with deceased loved ones. This app enhances what healthy people already do when visiting gravesites or writing letters to the departed. The mob mentality attacking creators shows how cynical views prevent the recognition of legitimate potential for healing.
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The Controversies
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