Love in the Age of AI is a VR experience that takes the form of a boyfriend simulator. Developed as a speculative experiment in emotional automation, the work asks the question: Can the labor of love be outsourced to artificial intelligence?

At the center of the simulation is Justin, an AI-powered avatar modeled after my real-life boyfriend. His personality, and interests are drawn directly from his human counterpart, creating a digital doppelgänger designed to perform affection. The result is a simulacrum of intimacy—one that operates within the condition of hyperreality. I, as the creator, can fine-tune Justin’s responses, restart conversations, and calibrate emotional intensity on demand. Whether he is tender or domineering, my interactions with him will always be safe. This is intimacy without risk, romance where I have complete control.

In doing so, this work becomes a critique on how technology serves as both a mirror and mechanism for our desires. Love in the Age of AI interrogates how digital systems increasingly mediate our most private experiences, and how emotional labor—once a deeply human endeavor—can now be scripted, optimized, and performed by code.

Love in the Age of AI is a VR experience that takes the form of a boyfriend simulator. Developed as a speculative experiment in emotional automation, the work asks the question: Can the labor of love be outsourced to artificial intelligence? This work was created using Unreal Engine 5 and a Meta Quest 2 headset. 3D art assets came from the Epic Fab store and the Epic Metahuman creator. Convai AI was used to power the AI avatars. The AI model uses ChatGPT and the generative AI voices are powered by ElevenLabs.