Affection simulated by AI strangely irks sceptics at first (3,4)
I believe the answer is:
air kiss
'affection simulated' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'ai strangely irks sceptics at first' is the wordplay.
'strangely' is an anagram indicator.
'at first' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'sceptics' is 's'.
'irks' anagrammed gives 'rkis'.
'ai'+'rkis'+'s'='AIR-KISS'
'by' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for air kiss that I've seen before include "Greeting that's not touching" , "form of greeting" , "contactless transaction" .)