A former Disney Channel star is facing criticism following the launch of a new avatar app.
Calum Worthy, who is best known for his role in Austin & Ally, is the co-founder and head of business development at 2wai, a Los Angeles-based tech company.
On Tuesday (November 11), the company launched its social app on the Apple's App Store, allowing users to create avatars known as HoloAvatars through artificial intelligence. According to their website, the HoloAvatars users create'can have a strong resemblance to the user, ‘who looks and talks like you, and even shares the same memories’.
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A video posted by Worthy promotes the app as a way to memorialize deceased loved ones, and the promotional clip on social media has been viewed over 20.4 million times on X, formerly Twitter.
"What if the loved ones we've lost could be part of our future?" Worthy wrote alongside the video.
The plot of the ad shows a grandmother speaking to her grandson Charlie at different points of his life, despite passing away before his birth. It shows the avatar of an elderly lady help her daughter through pregnancy via the app on a smartphone.
The woman then 'watches' her grandson grow up and eventually forms a relationship with him.
Flashing forward to the future, Charlie then turns to his avatar grandma for advice on his own partner’s pregnancy.
It closes with the message: "With 2wai, three minutes can last forever."
“At 2wai, we're building a living archive of humanity, one story at a time,” Worthy shared on X in a follow-up post. “It all starts with the social network for avatars: the 2wai app.”
However, despite the sentimental plot and gentle backing music, people didn’t respond positively to the concept.
"This is the most evil thing I've ever seen..." one person hit out, as a second branded the concept 'vile'.
"Death and Loss is a normal part of life. You’re creating dependent and lobotomized adults by doing this. Actually vile," a third weighed in.
“This is objectively one of the most evil ideas imaginable,” one person declared.
"There’s literally a Black Mirror episode about this," somebody else said, as another person added the hit show had 'already warned us' about this.
One episode in the second season, Be Right Back, follows Martha (Hayley Atwell), a young woman who communicates with an AI chatbot version of her boyfriend, Ash Starmer (Domhnall Gleeson), who is killed in a car crash.
UNILAD Tech has contacted 2wai for comment.