Black Mirror is here: how the new app that allows you to talk to your deceased loved ones works (and is causing a lot of discussion)

In the most talked about video of the moment, a young woman talks to her mother on the phone. He updates her on the pregnancy, asks for advice, smiles. A few scenes later, we find her with the newborn in her arms, while she asks her “grandmother” to tell the stories she listened to as a child. Only at the end do we discover the truth: that voice belongs to him AI avatarscreated thanks to a collection of videos recorded when the mother was still alive. The app that allows all this is called 2Wai.

The video, released by the actor and former Disney face Calum Worthyco-founder of the startup together with Hollywood producer Russell Geyser, immediately went viral. Worthy presents the app as an ambitious project:

We are building a living archive of humanity, one story at a time.

An idea that fascinates and disturbs at the same time, because it clearly recalls the episode Be Right Back Of Black Mirrorin which a woman attempts to digitally recreate her dead partner. It ended very badly there. Here, for now, it is reality.

2Wai is already available in beta on iOS, with an Android version on the way. And you don’t need a lot of material to create an avatar: just a few minutes of video and audio are enough. From there, the AI ​​generates a “HoloAvatar” capable of conversing, responding, remembering information and learning from interactions. The platform supports beyond 40 languagesand it’s not limited to the dead: you can create avatars of famous people, life coaches, historical figures or even digital versions of yourself.

The Ethical Border: Digital Comfort or Pain-Based Business?

From a technical point of view, nothing surprising: the more data we provide to the algorithm, the more credible the avatar appears. But the question that many users are asking is not “can it be done?”, but rather “Should we do this?”.

In the comments on the posts dedicated to the app, there are those who see an opportunity to preserve family stories and make the distance sweeter, and those who fear the commercial drift of such an intimate pain. Some clearly state that the app wants to offer “premium” avatars for a fee profit from mourning. A concern shared by several psychologists and popularizers, who fear a possible impact on the natural process of emotional separation.

Then there is the issue of privacy:

According to Axios, one of the startup’s stated goals is to allow users to “own their digital identity” before others do so via deepfakes or illegal clones. A vision that arises more from fear than enthusiasm.

At the same time, Decrypt speaks of “widespread disquiet”, while on Reddit many users define the project as “dystopian”, “demonic” or “the commercialization of the pain of the most vulnerable people”. In the midst of these reactions, one fact remains: the idea of ​​bringing back to life those who are no longer with us strikes deep chords, and it does so in an era in which technology promises rapid responses to even the most complex feelings.

The general impression is that 2Wai opens a new door, not necessarily one to be crossed without awareness. Because turning a memory into an active interlocutor can comfort, but it can also create emotional dependence, prolonging the mourning instead of accompanying it.