Former child actor and Disney star Calum Worthy is taking criticism after launching an app that allows users to conjure up interactive AI videos of deceased relatives.
Worthy, 34, announced the launch of 2wai with a video showing a woman recording her mother with the app. The video goes on to show how that recording can be turned into an interactive AI-powered presentation that will allow future relatives to talk to the woman’s mother long after she dies.
“What if the loved ones we’ve lost could be part of our future?” Worthy wrote on his X posting.
“With 2wai, three minutes can last forever,” the app maker promises.
Some X users, though, thought the app was somewhat dystopian. One even compared the app to the dark, sci fi TV series Black Mirror.
“This looks like the most disturbing episode of Black Mirror to date,” the user wrote. “Can’t wait!”
Another alarmed X commenter insisted the app was like “necromancy.”
“This is necromancy. It’s dark magic. It feels innocuous because it’s coming through a screen and not being conjured through potions, but it’s the exact same thing. You’re using the dead person’s essence as an undead servant, where they serve at your whim. They have no agency, no will of their own. The words they’re saying are not theirs, it’s a computer’s, meaning it’s your company’s version of them. You’re desecrating the memory of a loved one by turning them into a puppet, and the fact that you can’t see that this is wrong is telling,” he wrote.
Yet another cynical user imagined that it would not belong until “grandma” is turned into another way to deliver advertisements. “How long before Grandma starts telling us about new prescription drugs or the latest summer blockbuster?”
One user even thought the app cheapened life, writing, “If our loved ones can ‘live on’ as AI, doesn’t that cheapen life?”
But not every respondent on Worthy’s announcement opposed the app.
“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, and yet when they DO look away from their phones, they watch porn, drink and drive, lie on their taxes and cheat on their spouses,” a user wrote.
Another insisted, “I’m not opposed. How is it different from passing a grandparent’s writings, photos, & lore down to the children, except now we have additional technology to do it with? Was there such a horrified reaction when cameras came out, so they could capture a moment in time forever?”
2wai also offers AI versions of famous historical personalities, including William Shakespeare, Florence Nightingale, King Henry VIII, and others. These are offered as a “real-time teaching assistants for a truly immersive learning experience,” according to Entertainment Weekly.
Worthy, who began his career as a child actor and at 20 starred as Dez on Disney Channel’s Austin & Ally, says, “Having worked as an actor, writer, and producer for the last 20 years, I experienced firsthand how challenging it is to create a meaningful relationship with fans around the world.”
“With the launch of 2wai, we’re enabling entirely new experiences that are as authentic as the HoloAvatars we create,” he claims.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, X at WTHuston, or Truth Social at @WarnerToddHuston.
