Disney star Calum Worthy is earning the wrath of netizens after launching a controversial AI app. Worthy, who played Dez in the beloved show Austin & Ally, is a co-founder of the AI app called 2wai. The app uses an AI HoloAvatar tool to generate digital recreations of dead people.
The very idea of the app faced scrutiny from the general public, including concerns of consent to use likeness and the ethics of AI recreations. Worthy did not help matters when he launched the app with an ad on X, with the title, “What if the loved ones we’ve lost could be part of our future?”
In the sentimental video ad, a pregnant woman can be initially seen talking to the AI avatar of her dead mother about her pregnancy. Later in the ad, she introduces her baby to the AI avatar. However, fans saw the creepy side of the ad rather than its emotional side.
What if the loved ones we've lost could be part of our future? pic.twitter.com/oFBGekVo1R
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.
Try the 2wai beta on the App Store. Android coming soon.
Follow @2waiapp for updates.
The beta version of the app officially launched on the App Store on November 11, with Worthy promising the audience that the app would soon arrive on Android as well. The users can now create their HoloAvatars on the app.
Fans React to Calum Worthy’s Creepy AI App
While Calum Worthy’s app promises that they are “building a living archive of humanity”, fans weren’t really impressed. The comments under Worthy’s X ad for the app saw fans bashing his creepy idea. They used a meme from his show, Austin & Ally, to call him out: “Guess who got a job defiling dead people.”
Others compared the app to the second season episode of Black Mirror, Be Right Back, where Hayley Atwell’s character tries to bring back her dead boyfriend. Fans also accused his app of “digital grave-robbing”, with some fans claiming that what the app does was kind of “demonic.” Some of the fan reactions read:
guess who got a job defiling dead people pic.twitter.com/qRYreFmVVE
You know what it is pic.twitter.com/9p7Tljth62
Calum Worthy’s app feels less like progress and more like digital grave-robbing the tech world claps, but anyone with a conscience should be uncomfortable.
Demonic, dishonest, and dehumanizing. If I die and you put words in my mouth I will curse you for all eternity. My value dies with me. I’m not a fucking avatar.
‘Are you sure you want to cancel your subscription and never talk to your dead parents again?’
You are a psychopath.
Get help.
Stop building products before you really hurt someone.
You know they’ll introduce a tier where your dead relative starts reading you advertisements pic.twitter.com/0ExyLwKiq5
While the app currently runs in its beta version, it will be a paid platform with a tiered, subscription-based model. Fans are already mocking the app, claiming that the app would probably make dead people read ads in the future.
Calum Worthy’s AI App Comes After Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine’s AI Collaboration
Fans are not happy that industry veterans like Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine are jumping on the AI bandwagon. According to USA Today, the two actors are teaming up with ElevenLabs to produce AI replications of their voices.
McConaughey partnered with the AI company for the Spanish-language audio of his newsletter, Lyrics of Livin’. He narrates the English version of the newsletter. It was also reported that the actor has been a long-time investor in ElevenLabs. Fans feared that it was the beginning of the AI-infestation in Hollywood.
Many fans questioned why these actors were supporting AI instead of fighting against it. Some fans shared that the actors would come to regret their choices in the near future, when the AI potentially misuses their voices. Others defended the actors, sharing that they chose to get paid for their likenesses rather than the AI copying them without permission. The fan reactions read:
The floodgates are about to open. Many other actors will follow.
What? Why are they not against it?
Future Matthew McConaughey seeing this pic.twitter.com/5Oo6wISI6L
Let's find out how they feel when their likenesses and voices are used extremely inappropriately, and to fool people into thinking they did and said things they did not.
Something tells me they would rather get paid than have their voices copied without their permission anyway.
Some actors and filmmakers have openly spoken against the use of AI recreations. Morgan Freeman recently shared with Variety that he gets “pissed off” at AI recreations of his voice. He shared:
I’m a little PO’d, you know. I’m like any other actor: don’t mimic me with falseness. I don’t appreciate it and I get paid for doing stuff like that, so if you’re gonna do it without me, you’re robbing me.
Guillermo del Toro slammed Generative AI, sharing that he was not interested and will never be interested in it. He shared with NPR, “I’m 61, and I hope to be able to remain uninterested in using it at all until I croak.” He shared that he was more concerned with the natural stupidity behind the AI than the very idea of AI.
What do you think of Calum Worthy’s new creepy AI app? Let us know in the comments below!
