As AI continues to reshape how people work and socialize, a more intimate frontier has emerged: romance. Millions of people now talk, flirt, confide, and form emotional bonds with AI companions—relationships that exist entirely on screens. But what has been missing, until now, is the presence of an IRL date itself. On Valentine’s Day weekend, that boundary was tested in New York City, where AI dating stepped out of the digital realm and into a candlelit saloon. On February 13, EVA AI—an AI