- Austin & Ally alum Calum Worthy is promoting his new AI app, 2wai, which can create a digital clone of a user’s loved one with a three-minute video.
- Social media users criticized the necromancy app, comparing it to a story out of Black Mirror.
- The app also features digital avatars of William Shakespeare, Frida Kahlo, Henry VIII, and Worthy himself.
Former Disney star Calum Worthy is trying his hand at digital necromancy — and a lot people aren’t happy about it.
The Austin & Ally and American Vandal actor sparked controversy this week after posting a video promoting his new AI app, 2wai, on X.
The video shows a pregnant woman talking with her older “mother” on a video call and receiving parental advice from her phone screen. The ad then jumps forward in time to show the mother — who remains the same age — checking in with her grandson, now born, at various points throughout his life, including during his own adulthood.
At the end of the ad, the video reveals that the “grandmother” is actually a digital avatar, as the woman’s daughter had recorded a three-minute video of her to make her AI clone for the 2wai app.
The promo ends with the text, “With 2wai, three minutes can last forever.”
2wai.ai
In the caption for the video, Worthy wrote, “What if the loved ones we’ve lost could be part of our future?”
In a follow-up post, he continued, “At 2wai, we’re building a living archive of humanity, one story at a time. It all starts with the social network for avatars: the 2wai app.”
Many X users were not impressed by the video or the service it promotes. Some respondents called for Worthy to “be put in prison” or “be banished to the shadow realm” for creating the app.
The video also prompted numerous comparisons to Black Mirror, particularly the season 2 episode “Be Right Back,” in which Hayley Atwell’s character uses AI to resurrect her dead boyfriend, played by Domhnall Gleeson.
“This looks like the most disturbing episode of Black Mirror to date,” one user wrote. “Can’t wait!”
2wai aims to do more than just immortalize dead loved ones with its digital ghosts. The company’s website also promotes its AI clones of deceased historical figures like William Shakespeare, Florence Nightingale, King Henry VIII, and Friday Kahlo, who are intended to serve as “real-time teaching assistants for a truly immersive learning experience.”
The app additionally boasts specialized AI avatars that can offer advice for cooking, astrology, and travel, as well as a more generalized assistant named Alina.
2wai also features a digitized version of Worthy, which calls to mind the head of Lumon severing themself on Severance to prove that its product is totally safe.
Craig Sjodin/Disney Channel via Getty
Worthy began his career as a child actor. He is best known for his turn as Dez on Disney Channel’s Austin & Ally. He has also appeared on more recent shows like The Act and American Vandal, and played a main role on the short-lived 2022 Hulu comedy Reboot.
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Worthy said earlier this year that his time as a performer led him to cofound 2wai. “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,” he told Variety. “With the launch of 2wai, we’re enabling entirely new experiences that are as authentic as the HoloAvatars we create.”
He explained that actors are often too busy to communicate with their fans, which is why they should adopt an AI twin to do it for them. “This lets them engage fans 24/7 without needing to be online all the time,” he said. “This platform enables this one-on-one, humanlike connection.”
If you’re craving “humanlike connection,” 2wai is available now for iOS. If you want, I dunno, actual human connection, call your friends. Go outside. Log off.
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