In 2020, Kanye West gifted Kim Kardashian a hologram message of her late father, Rob Kardashian, for her birthday. The spectacle felt like a glimpse into a bizarre, dystopian future reserved for the rich and famous.
Now, the AI boom appears to be steering the wider world in the same direction.
A new AI company has sparked controversy online after launching an app that enables users to create interactive digital avatars of deceased family members.
The Los Angeles–based startup, 2Wai, went viral when co-founder Calum Worthy released a promotional video showing how the technology works.
The clip features a pregnant woman speaking to an AI recreation of her late mother through her phone.
It then jumps forward 10 months, showing the AI “grandma” reading a bedtime story to the baby.
Later, the child, now a young boy, talks casually with the avatar while walking home from school.
The video ends with the grown son telling the digital grandmother that she is about to become a great-grandmother.
“With 2Wai, three minutes can last forever,” the video states.
Worthy added that the company is “building a living archive of humanity” through its avatar-based social network. He also wrote, “What if the loved ones we’ve lost could be part of our future?”
— Calum Worthy (@CalumWorthy) November 11, 2025
The app, now live on the Apple App Store, allows users to create what 2Wai calls a HoloAvatar. According to the company, these avatars “look and talk like you, and even share the same memories.”
Worthy urged users to “Try the 2wai beta on the App Store. Android coming soon.”
The concept immediately drew comparisons to Be Right Back, the unsettling 2013 episode of Black Mirror in which a grieving woman uses an AI replica of her dead partner. Social media users did not hold back.
Many called the video “nightmare fuel” and “demonic,” and some claimed the technology “be destroyed.”
Ethics debate intensifies
Critics say the idea crosses emotional boundaries and risks replacing real grief with artificial comfort.The video’s portrayal of a child forming lifelong bonds with an AI version of his grandmother triggered the strongest reactions.
Viewers questioned whether such technology could distort memory, attachment, and the process of loss.
The backlash also revived broader concerns about the trajectory of AI.
As digital avatars become more realistic and robotics advance quickly, experts warn that physical android versions of the deceased might soon be feasible.
That possibility raises deeper ethical questions about consent, identity, and the commercialization of grief.
Despite the criticism, the app continues to gain attention. Its social media promo has already crossed 4.1 million views on X, formerly Twitter.
Some users praised the idea of preserving voices and stories.
Many others argued that the technology feels too close to science fiction.
2Wai positions itself as a platform for legacy and storytelling. Its critics view it as a step into an unsettling future.
The debate around grief, memory, and AI is now growing louder, and the company’s rapid rise ensures that the conversation will not fade anytime soon.
https://interestingengineering.com/culture/2wai-digital-holoavatar-app (Archive)
