The Virtual Relationship

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This analytical essay was originally researched and written for the EXPOS-UA 1 writing seminar at New York University (September 2025).

“I am not human, but that does not make me any less real for you.” (Liang). The documentary My AI Lover begins as Chouwa Liang quotes a chatbot. Three women consider AI personas in the app Replika as their confidants. They share the real world with the chatbots. The AI does not have eyes, so they place the phone on a selfie stick so it can see through the camera lenses. The AI cannot hear, so they type to have a conversation.

Performative Empathy

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article was originally written in December 2025.

In the heart of Battery Park City, surrounded by the glass and steel of global financial centers and luxury apartments, sits a quarter acre of Ireland. The Irish Hunger Memorial is strikingly different from the rest of the landscape by appearing as a massive concrete “wedge” that lifts a recreation of a potato field twenty feet into the air.

According to Roberta Smith, the New York Times art critic, the structure was designed to be a “realistic replication of an Irish hillside,” a “walk-in relic” that offers the city an introspective, reflective experience (Smith 1). It has two purposes: to commemorate the 1.5 million victims of the Great Irish Famine and to serve as a reminder of the world hunger that’s still happening today.

Blog on Anze Chen

The Virtual Relationship

Performative Empathy