The world has been abuzz with generative artificial intelligence and its implications for business, life, privacy, security—and now leisure. Virgin Voyages is using celebrity-backed AI to encourage its customers to plan their next big celebration.

As Virgin Voyages’ chief lifestyle, entertainment and celebrations officer, Jennifer Lopez doesn’t have the time to call everyone to coordinate trips. A new “Jen AI” campaign from VMLY&R allows sailors—the cruise line’s term for travelers—to use generative AI to create custom invitations from Lopez to send to friends and family. 

The spot accompanying the campaign—which was filmed with the real Lopez—shows a series of Virgin office staffers switching in and out of an AI capture chair as they voice their own interpretations of how JLo would entice people to take a Virgin Voyages cruise. 

The result is a montage of Lopezes touting the perks of the cruise ship, from a straightlaced manager offering “Michelin star chef-curated menus” to a promise of “There’s no kids here, that’s all you need to know” to an enthusiastic New York-accented “It’s not just a yacht, it’s a super yacht!” 

In actuality, the agency brought Lopez onto a Virgin Voyages cruise ship for a day of capturing images and video while Lopez read a “nonsensical” nine-page script to train the voice. The spot was directed by Dave Meyers of RadicalMedia, who previously shot music videos for Lopez.

As the world opens back up from pandemic restrictions, people are ready to travel again, with 76% of Condé Nast Traveler readers saying they had already traveled or planned to travel for a special event in the next year. But taking a trip with loved ones can involve a lot of coordinating and planning. 

“Initially we thought we could enlist her to help get people on board to book their voyage, but that’s not really a scalable solution to have—Jennifer Lopez phoning everyone in the world to get the world to celebrate,” said Ryan McManus, chief creative officer, North America for VMLY&R. “There’s a lot of paranoid conversation around generative AI, but we wanted to have a bit of fun with it and keep it pretty nice.” 

Those who want to create their own invites can go to VirginVoyages.com and answer questions including what they’d like to celebrate, where they’d like to travel and who they want to set sail with. They will then be sent a personalized invite from JenAI to share. 

To safeguard against the usual concerns, JenAI has a built-in series of things she cannot say and a team of moderators to ensure nothing slips through the cracks via creative spelling or innuendo. 

McManus would not comment on the amount of campaign spend for “JenAI,” but said the ad will run on broadcast TV, digital and in cinemas as well as organic sharing as JenAI invites are spread on peer-to-peer message platforms. 

Virgin Voyages, which was founded by British business mogul Richard Branson in 2021 as a boutique hotel experience on the high seas, previously worked with Special US for a campaign featuring kids protesting the cruise line’s “over 18” policy.