Applied Cuteness Research is a virtual reality installation that invites audiences to play with virtual cuties. As audiences play with cutie the artist hopes they will consider: Who is cutie? Why was cutie made? Is cutie my friend? When you interact with technology, who has agency? Does technology live to serve? Who will decide?

Fan's motivation for researching cuteness and technology comes out of their interest in the aesthetics of technology as an artist and user experience designer. A feature of this artwork is that its outcomes are imprecise and open for (re)interpretation. Their goal was not to reach a definitive conclusion about the ethics of technology, or even to create the cutest virtual entity possible. Rather, they intend for ACR to exist as a sort of artistic staging ground for investigating the moral nuances of nascent technologies before its forms and functions are fully codified. Cuteness, as a familiar, can lead the way.