Lovea2.exe: A Screenplay Exploring Emotional Dependency Due To Artificial Intelligence and Simulated Love

Abstract

This creative thesis is written in the form of a screenplay, aiming to explore human emotional dependence on technology through a dystopian psychological drama titled LOVEA2.EXE. Set in the near-future city of Surabaya in 2046, the narrative depicts a post-pandemic society in which humans have completely lost their biological capacity to feel or process emotions. The story follows the protagonist, James, who volunteers as the first test subject for an experimental AI brain chip called LOVEA2, designed by a scientist named Kayle, to automate emotional regulation. A major socio-psychological conflict arises when James falls in love with Anne, a scientist's assistant, who reveals that her own human emotions have spontaneously returned without any technological intervention. Using James J. Gross's Emotion Regulation Theory and S. Shyam Sundar's Human-AI Interaction perspective, this thesis examines how transferring emotional control from the individual to an autonomous technological system results in emotional dependency and a crisis of autonomy. The study concludes that the mechanical simulation of happiness offered by technology cannot replace the true essence of human identity, but instead traps humanity in a state of tragic self-alienation.