Book contents
- Empathy and Artificial Intelligence
- Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction
- Empathy and Artificial Intelligence
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- AI and Empathy at a Crossroads
- Part I Understanding Empathy
- Part II Perceiving AI Empathy
- Part III Beyond Text: Embodiment and Robots
- Chapter 13 Examining the Capacity of Human Beings to Experience Empathy toward AI
- Chapter 14 Trust and Social Affiliation May Influence Evacuee Decisions during Robot-Guided Evacuation
- Chapter 15 Does Embodiment Influence Empathy toward Artificial Agents?
- Chapter 16 Your Robot Will Feel You Now
- Chapter 17 Children’s Judgments of and Interactions with Empathetic AI
- Chapter 18 Anticipating Children’s Beliefs about Artificial Empathy
- Chapter 19 From Social Media to Empathic Artificial Intelligence
- Part IV Moral Implications
- Index
- Studies In Emotion and Social Interaction
- References
Chapter 15 - Does Embodiment Influence Empathy toward Artificial Agents?
from Part III - Beyond Text: Embodiment and Robots
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2026
Book contents
- Empathy and Artificial Intelligence
- Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction
- Empathy and Artificial Intelligence
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- AI and Empathy at a Crossroads
- Part I Understanding Empathy
- Part II Perceiving AI Empathy
- Part III Beyond Text: Embodiment and Robots
- Chapter 13 Examining the Capacity of Human Beings to Experience Empathy toward AI
- Chapter 14 Trust and Social Affiliation May Influence Evacuee Decisions during Robot-Guided Evacuation
- Chapter 15 Does Embodiment Influence Empathy toward Artificial Agents?
- Chapter 16 Your Robot Will Feel You Now
- Chapter 17 Children’s Judgments of and Interactions with Empathetic AI
- Chapter 18 Anticipating Children’s Beliefs about Artificial Empathy
- Chapter 19 From Social Media to Empathic Artificial Intelligence
- Part IV Moral Implications
- Index
- Studies In Emotion and Social Interaction
- References
Summary
Artificial agents sometimes elicit surprisingly strong emotional responses, ranging from care and sympathy to discomfort or moral concern, for example in reactions to the mistreatment of robots. This chapter asks why such reactions arise at all and how humans come to engage empathically with artificial agents. We address this question by conceptualizing empathy not as a purely inferential process, but as an embodied and relational phenomenon grounded in bodily awareness, intersubjectivity, and social presence. Drawing on psychological, neuroscientific, and developmental research, we suggest that physical embodiment plays a critical role in scaffolding empathic responses, making embodied agents more likely to be engaged with as socially significant than virtual or disembodied counterparts. This perspective also allows us to examine what embodiment contributes to social interaction more broadly. We conclude by considering the practical and ethical implications of empathic engagement with artificial agents for social life, collaboration, and care.
Information
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- Information
- Empathy and Artificial IntelligenceChallenges, Advances and Ethical Considerations, pp. 148 - 156Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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