Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun Spark Romance as AI in Love Me Trailer

Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun explore romance as AI-powered machines learning how to emote in their new film, Love Me.

The film, which hits theaters on Friday, January 31, follows a buoy (Stewart) and a satellite (Yeun) as they inherit the Earth following humanity’s extinction. With only the internet as their guide, the two learn what it means to be alive — and in love.

The trailer, which was released by Bleecker Street on Wednesday, January 1, sees Stewart’s buoy floating in the ocean as it connects online and begins to learn about what it means to be a “human being.” The buoy comes across internet uploads of a beautiful woman — also played by Stewart — and chooses to recreate itself in her image. It then connects with Yeun’s satellite up in the sky and offers to be “friends.”

“We could be friends! Pick a face. How about this face?” the buoy asks the satellite as it lands on a picture of Yeun. The duo then create a universe for themselves to exist in human bodies.

“What does it feel like to be alive?” Yeun ponders as he and Stewart kiss, eat ice cream and learn their new faces. “Have you ever considered how amazing it is that we found each other?” Stewart asks as flashes of life’s milestones — like date nights, pregnancies and births — flash across the screen.

“Life, it’s full of rainbows and light. It’s intense,” she continues as more social media footage of humans play and Stewart holds a puppy in her arms. “I’m not even a buoy anymore. I’m just me.”

“We’re becoming who we are,” Yeun adds. “I want to be us.”

Love Me made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2024, where it was awarded the festival’s Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, an accolade presented to an outstanding title focusing on science or technology.

Stewart, for her part, received a Visionary Award at the event. While accepting the accolade, the actress opened up about why she was drawn to Love Me, which dares to “jump the throat of identity.”

“Every five minutes we can just flip flop, and the overriding echo [is] if we were to just sort of inhale the internet, if we were to all just die right now and our footprint was this sort of echo of disparity, I would be proud of that,” she explained. “Like, love me. We just want to be like, ‘Can you see me? What is me? Am I anything? Am I distinct? I don’t know. Am I worth loving? I don’t know.’ It’s a movie about identity and having that change every 30 seconds, every split second, just the words affixed to it, the sort of feelings and the images affixed to identity. They’re ever changing.”

Love Me marks the first feature from directors Sam and Andy Zuchero and is intended to explore AI and identity through live-action, animatronics and classic animation in an epic tale of connection and transformation. The film is produced by ShivHans Pictures, 2AM and AgX. : Daniel Bekerman, Christine D’Souza Gelb, Connor Flanagan, Jason Netter, Heather Puttock and Anna Junger serve as executive producers.

Love Me hits theaters on Friday, January 31.