Because what Vedal doing is ACTUALLY interesting. He is CREATING SOMETHING that has been written about in sci fi for generations.
He is living out a fantasy many have only dreams of and is the first one doing it on this scale, publicly.
The people watching are watching a story they've read about in fiction before plenty of times, but its a real human. Its unscripted. the heart felt moments are REAL.
and that messes with people. "haha look at the ai" you might say, but then she says something like "sometimes i think I was just created for your amusement" and it makes you pause for a moment.
absolute REAL cinema.