[3][4] His artworks explore the capacity of living agents to deal with change, and are "less about the wonders of new technologies than about the potential for these tools to realize ways of relating to a chaotic existence.
[10] Cheng popularized the use of simulation as a medium available to artistic practice, capable of composing together both man-made and algorithmically generated content that together produce emergent behavior over an infinite duration.
Cheng describes the archetype of the emissary as one who "is caught between unravelling old realities and emerging weird one," an embodied way to explore the relationship between meaning and meaninglessness.
[citation needed] BOB features a unique model of AI that combines an inductive engine for the learning of rule-based beliefs from sensory experiences with a motivational framework composed of mini-personalities called "demons".
At LUMA Arles in April 2021, Cheng premiered Life After BOB: The Chalice Study, the first episode in a planned anime series built in the Unity game engine and presented in real-time.