I think Joi was real.  In as much as she had sentience.  Unfortunately, that didn't earn her any more human rights than it did for K.  That is part of the tragedy of Bladerunner.  These characters displaying humanity, but being treated inhumanely.

Dr Ana Stelline when she was talking with K about the memories she creates said: ''If you have authentic memories, you have real human responses''. That answered the question about Joi to me.

If K's memories helped to make him human, perhaps sharing them with her and going on the journey with her made her more human, too

Well done! The questions raised by Joi's arc are, to me, the most fascinating part of the movie. Recall Sapper Morton, in his last moments, taunts K: "You've never seen a miracle." I'd argue that by witnessing Joi's growth from product to "a real girl," K has now seen an equivalent miracle, with as much world-changing potential as a Replicant giving birth. He realizes this when the billboard Joi talks to him: Joi was a product, but his Joi had become something more, as had he.

Many years ago, I read a book called "Love and Sex with Robots" which argued that a robot programmed to love you is little different from a spouse programmed by generations of cultural and media that loves you.  He also went over quite a bit of research on humans developing relationships with inanimate objects (cars, video games, etc.), including grief at the loss.

Joi and k’s relationship carried this movie.

Finally, someone has made a video essay on this very subject that has been so controversial! Personally, I had always felt that K's JOI had "authentic" feelings towards him, yet I could not explain how or why. But you nailed it perfectly and explained all the little details that I had picked up but could not put into words. Excellent thesis!

The main question posed by both Phillip Dick and Ridley Scott is "what is human?" When the 2019 replicants meet J.F. Sebastian, he empathizes with them because he also has a short lifespan. Roy wants more life because he loves life so much, but alas "the light that burns twice as bright burns half as long." Rachel's emotions are real even though they are based on implanted memories, and (as we later learn) she is not only able to love, but also to reproduce. In 2049, the Wallace replicants feel loyalty and self-sacrifice for a greater purpose ("Because you've never seen a miracle," says Sapper Morton when confronting K with the sin of killing his own kind) and thus have achieved Tyrell's goal of "more human than human." They are  smarter, stronger, and more ethically pure than the humans they serve, which is why they go to such pains to keep them that way (such as using the Pale Fire baseline test to see if K has changed; in fact, the examiner seems amazed and impressed by "Constant K" and his ability to remain unmoved by the murders he commits for Madam. Madam, by the way, does not consider him to be human. When she sees he's been stabbed, she remarks "I'm not paying for that," though she did consider using him as a sex toy after drinking his booze and asking about his memories).
Which gets to the point of Wallace chasing Tyrell. In the interim short films available on YouTube, Wallace gains permission to begin manufacturing replicants after ordering one of them to commit suicide as part of a demonstration, and later he kills the unfruitful model without any feeling whatsoever... though Luv is obviously affected. Wallace created replicants that exceeded Tyrell's original idea, replicants that grow and learn and love one another. Why would he not give the same basic programming to his binary creations such as Joi? Assuming that she is genuinely AI, that means she can learn and adapt. She may not have embedded human memories, but clearly she remembers things from the start of her life (presumable when K, flush with a bonus after killing a replicant, bought her and turned her on). She even seems to feel jealousy, chiming in whenever K gets too close to a sexy woman like Luv or Mariette (marionette?).  The names are a giveaway to me. Joi is fleeting but real, false but genuine and ultimately stable. Luv, on the other hand, is physical and dangerous, needy ("I'm the best one") and ultimately dies. I guess Joi does too, but there's always more Joi out there. Would a new purchase follow the same trajectory over time and come to love K, have the same jokes, wear the same outfits?
This is why this movie is a masterpiece anDenis Villaneuve is the greatest director since Kubrick.

Another thing I tend to notice people overlook is social(?) tension between replicants and AIs. Sure you can look the story point bank and say that she is isn't real and all her "emotions" and actions are just part of her programming. BUT given that this is the Blade Runner universe, where we constantly face the question of "who is human? " or "what makes a human a human?" You can't tell me tell me that is only limited to replicants! If replicants are able to deviate from their programming and display human emotions then the AIs would also be able to also do the same. Replicants are supposed to be subservient to humans , but each time the problem is that they develop their own feelings and thoughts. So the AIs could also possibly find ways to deviate.

Now the interesting thing that for as much as the replicants are discriminated against, at no point do they show any mercy to AIs like Joi. They actually look down her because she is made to be even more obedient to humans than replicants. It doesn't make sense for replicants to act this way since they all share the creator: "The Wallace Corporation".

IMO, BR2049's central thesis is "The most human thing you can do is sacrifice yourself for a worthy cause." Sapper sees his miracle, and sacrifices himself to try to protect it. Joshi sets K loose, then later sacrifices herself for him. K sacrifices himself to save Deckard. Joi tells K to erase what data of her is in his apartment, in order to become 'mortal' in his emanator, then later completes this sacrifice by exercising what little agency she has in an attempt to sacrifice herself to save K. In so doing, she rebels against the will of her creator, defying her programming in the process.

I read the scene on the bridge with the billboard-Joi as the film reminding K that his Joi truly loved him, not that what he had with her wasn't special. It's possible that there was something in the baseline code of all Joi's that saw something about him specifically that made them want to call him Joe. IMO, it'd been better if the scene had gone on a bit longer, and some random had walked up to that same spot, and Joi had named this second man 'Kevin" or something.

One of the more interesting points for me after watching 2049 again was how I didn't really question if the replicants had genuine emotions/sentience as the answer to that for me was yes even though this question is pretty much the central theme of the original Blade Runner. Now instead of questioning the authenticity of the replicants' sentience, we were made to think about whether or not it was genuine for Joi, and that was just an interesting parallel to the original film I didn't think about until I watched this video.

I liked that Love killed Joi. I appreciated the cleverness of it right away.

I think the whole point of the movie is to question what makes us really human. When Joe realizes that the giant JOI calls him "Joe" you can clearly see the disappointment on his face. He realizes that all she did was part of her programming, to ultimately please him in anyway. Even when he tells her "you don't have to do this", "you hate that book", etc, she analyzes this new information to again, please him, achieving the goal she was programmed to do. That no matter what he does, she will always be a slave to her ulterior programming, making him question if what she feels for him is actually genuine. It is not. She was programmed to do this. At the same time, making him question his own existence and feelings, realizing again, that the only reason why he loved her is because he is a replicant, also a slave to his own programming, if you will. The disappointment when he realizes that he is not the human child of Decker and Rachel, that all he believed to be true actually wasn't. The only real genuine thing he ever did was to get Decker and his child together, moved by his emotions that also obeyed an ulterior programming as well. Food for thought.

Joy feels love cause her love is completely undistinguishable from real human love. Is as simple as that.

Joi is a source of great sadness to K.  A variation on the theme of unrequited love.  The film keeps interjecting doubts to counter belief in Joi's self determination while simultaneously challenging K's self worth.  Despite this K chooses what might be construed as the righteous path.  I enjoyed this video, reminds me of why I enjoyed the film.

Rip: k's Joi 😢

Peter, thank you for making such a brilliant video. The dilemma faced in this film, about the importance of humanity and real love is heartbreaking to me. I see people daily, that take simple things like holding their lover's hand, or having a conversation for granted. This film made me cry, as I relate to how lonely K was. Sorry, I'm currently separated from a man I love, and am heartbroken.

This movie is already a cult classic.

Well, actual AI is entirely algorithmic. It’s most probable that the upgrade extends the algorithms to include self-survival, which is the actual root of emotions. The algorithms itself only accounts for a certain amount, though, as data collected (experiences) is accumulated to make that specific Joi a unique entity compared to other Joi’s, which is further sealed by the deletion of the backup unit.

As Joi’s are manufactured by a corporation, one which is advanced enough to create the replicants and Joi’s in the first place, the scene in which she names him is pretty pivotal, as if it was just a programmed “play”, so to speak, it would have triggered an immediate reaction by the corporation to immediately eliminate K. Him considering deleting the backup so that they can go rogue, again, would have immediately had the same such reaction, and she certainly wouldn’t have asked him to do it.

The last quote is actually the correct answer. Humans have an actual program that is their genetic sequence of 4 letters. Everything else that makes us “us” is external stimuli. K simply had more advanced programming, is all.

Love destroyed Joi because of jealousy. There’s clues in the scene where K goes to the archives. Love clearly desires K, who shows 0 interest. When Love sees the way Joi has K’s eye… she destroys her. A very human thing.