By India McCarty
AI company 2wai faced backlash after promising that users could use their tech to communicate with virtual versions of deceased loved ones.
“What if the loved ones we’ve lost could be part of our future?” 2wai’s co-founder Calum Worthy posted on X, along with an ad for the tech.
What if the loved ones we’ve lost could be part of our future? pic.twitter.com/oFBGekVo1R
— Calum Worthy (@CalumWorthy) November 11, 2025
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In the ad, a pregnant woman is shown speaking with an AI version of her late mother. The video jumps forward, showing the AI “grandma” reading a bedtime story to the baby, then the young boy talking to the virtual version of his grandmother. It ends with the boy, now grown, telling the AI grandma that she’s about to be a great-grandmother.
While Worthy said 2wai’s work is “building a living archive of humanity, one story at a time,” many others called it ghoulish and distasteful.
“This looks like the most disturbing episode of BLACK MIRROR to date. Can’t wait!,” one person replied, referring to Netflix’s sci-fi/horror anthology series that explores technology’s increasing influence on our lives.
Another tweeted, “Oh goody, another way for people to completely lose touch with reality and avoid the normal process of grief.”
Researchers have already warned about the dangers of these “deadbots.” Ethicists at Cambridge’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence noted that these bots could upset young children who are still struggling to understand the concept of death — and could even be used to surreptitiously advertise to users.
“These services run the risk of causing huge distress to people if they are subjected to unwanted digital hauntings from alarmingly accurate AI recreations of those they have lost,” the study’s co–author Dr Tomasz Hollanek said, via The Daily Mail. “The potential psychological effect, particularly at an already difficult time, could be devastating.”
These AI versions of deceased loved ones aren’t the only virtual people 2wai wants to create. The company also promotes AI clones of historical figures like William Shakespeare, Florence Nightingale, King Henry VIII and Frida Kahlo, intended to serve as “real-time teaching assistants for a truly immersive learning experience,” per their website.
Worthy initially saw 2wai as a way for actors, singers and other celebrities to connect with their fans — without actually connecting.
He told Variety that 2wai’s technology “lets [celebrities] engage fans 24/7 without needing to be online all the time,” adding, “This platform enables this one-on-one, humanlike connection.”
Worthy might think 2wai promotes “humanlike” connection, but based on the immediate online backlash, it looks like most prefer actual human connection over AI bots.
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