AI Avatars of the Dead: A Dystopian "Black Mirror" Moment or an Inevitable Future?

A new AI app is drawing intense comparisons to the dystopian sci-fi show Black Mirror for its ability to create interactive digital avatars of deceased family members.

The LA-based startup, 2wai, launched its app with a viral promotional video that has now amassed over tens of millions of views on X. The video shows a pregnant woman speaking to an AI recreation of her late mother, who then interacts with the child as he grows up.

The backlash was immediate. Users on social media labeled the technology "nightmare fuel" and "demonic," arguing it crosses emotional boundaries and risks distorting the natural grieving process. The company, however, has positioned itself as a "platform for legacy," claiming it is building a "living archive of humanity."

But for SmarterX and Marketing AI Institute founder and CEO Paul Roetzer, this moment isn't just a sudden shock. It's an inevitability he's been anticipating for years. We talked more about what it means on Episode 180 of The Artificial Intelligence Show.

A Long-Feared Inevitability

This sort of "digital immortality" product was predictable, says Roetzer. He recalled a specific moment at a tech conference session back in 2016, where a panel on AR and VR sparked a realization.

Even then, he was contemplating how AI, memory, and language would combine to create digital beings. It was clear that loved ones might "never learn to or need to let go."

Roetzer’s main concern, which remains today, is the human brain's inability to distinguish between real memories and artificial interactions, especially for children.

He just knew someone was going to build it as soon as it was technologically possible.

From AI to the Death Industry

Roetzer’s perspective was uniquely shaped by his work at the time. While studying the future of AI, one of his marketing agency’s largest clients for nearly a decade was a funeral home.

This forced him to spend an "abnormal amount of time thinking about death and the death industry" in parallel with emerging AI.

He recalls a conversation with the funeral home's leadership around 2017 or 2018.

"I said, 'Hey, listen, like here's what's going to happen in your industry. There's going to be a day where people walk into a funeral and the deceased person will be there in a virtual form and you'll be able to talk to them,'" Roetzer said. 

He wasn't advising them to build it. But he was warning them that someone would.

Psychologically Unprepared

Over the years, early, less-advanced attempts at this have surfaced. In one high-profile incident, WIRED published an article about a man who turned his dying father's stories into a chatbot. But now, the technology has caught up to the sci-fi concept.

Roetzer is clear that his stance isn't about whether the technology is "horrible" or "wonderful." He's a realist. The technology is here, and there will absolutely be a market for it.

The core issue is that society is completely unprepared for the consequences.

“Psychologically society is not prepared to not have to grieve, to not go through these processes,” says Roetzer. “And that's a really weird thing to think about, honestly. And it's a topic I really struggle with.”

A Future We Have to Confront

The emergence of 2wai signals that we’ve crossed a threshold. The debate is no longer about if this technology should exist, but how we deal with the reality that it does.

While some will undoubtedly find comfort in these digital archives, the broader societal questions about memory, loss, and the very human need to grieve are left unanswered.

It's a part of the AI revolution that many, including Roetzer, are deeply uncomfortable with.

“I think there's just parts of AI that I wish we didn't have to deal with,” he says. “And I would say this is one of them. I'm a realist. I understand it's going to happen and people are going to build companies around it, but I would be okay if that was not the case.”