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 IUnderstanding Empathy
- Chapter 1A Very Human History of Artificial Empathy
- Chapter 2Try to See Things from My Point of View
- Chapter 3Does It Take Two to Empathize?
- Chapter 4Models Match or Surpass Objective Human Performance on Various Tasks
- Chapter 5Synthetic Support
- Chapter 6Is Empathic AI Possible?
- Part IIPerceiving AI Empathy
- Part IIIBeyond Text: Embodiment and Robots
- Part IVMoral Implications
- Index
- Studies In Emotion and Social Interaction
- References
Chapter 2 - Try to See Things from My Point of View
Empathy, AI, and the Right to Be an Exception
from Part I - Understanding Empathy
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 IUnderstanding Empathy
- Chapter 1A Very Human History of Artificial Empathy
- Chapter 2Try to See Things from My Point of View
- Chapter 3Does It Take Two to Empathize?
- Chapter 4Models Match or Surpass Objective Human Performance on Various Tasks
- Chapter 5Synthetic Support
- Chapter 6Is Empathic AI Possible?
- Part IIPerceiving AI Empathy
- Part IIIBeyond Text: Embodiment and Robots
- Part IVMoral Implications
- Index
- Studies In Emotion and Social Interaction
- References
Summary
Advances in the performance of large language models (LLMs) have led some researchers to propose the emergence of theory of mind (ToM) in artificial intelligence (AI). LLMs can attribute beliefs, desires, intentions, and emotions. But, rather than employing the characteristically human method of empathy, they learn to attribute mental states by recognizing behavioral and linguistic patterns in a dataset. We ask whether LLMs’ inability to empathize precludes them from honoring an individual’s right to be an exception, from assessing character with appropriate sensitivity to a person’s individuality. We defend the following claims: (1) Both humans and LLMs can honor the right to be an exception. (2) Humans can honor that right through empathy, and LLMs cannot empathize. (3) There is distinctive moral value in honoring the right to be an exception through empathy.
Keywords
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- Information
- Empathy and Artificial IntelligenceChallenges, Advances and Ethical Considerations, pp. 23 - 29Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
References
Cameron, C. D., Hutcherson, C. A., Ferguson, A. M., Scheffer, J. A., Hadjiandreou, E., & Inzlicht, M. (2019). Empathy is hard work: People choose to avoid empathy because of its cognitive costs. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148(6), 962–976. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000595CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cen, S. H., & Raghavan, M. (2023). The right to be an exception to a data-driven rule. MIT Case Studies in Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (Winter).10.21428/2c646de5.a15f7255CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cikara, M., Bruneau, E., Van Bavel, J. J., & Saxe, R. (2014). Their pain gives us pleasure: How intergroup dynamics shape empathic failures and counter-empathic responses. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 55, 110–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2014.06.007CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coplan, A. (2011). Understanding empathy. In Coplan, A & Goldie, P (eds.), Empathy: Philosophical and psychological perspectives (pp. 3–18). Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199539956.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inzlicht, M., Cameron, C. D., D’Cruz, J., & Bloom, P. (2024). In praise of empathic AI. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 28(2), 89–91.10.1016/j.tics.2023.12.003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ovsyannikova, D., de Mello, V. O., & Inzlicht, M. (2025). Third-party evaluators perceive AI as more compassionate than expert humans. Communications Psychology, 3(4). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-024-00182-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rao, N. (2011). Three concepts of dignity in constitutional law. Notre Dame Law Review, 86(1), 183–271.Google Scholar
Villanueva-Flores, F., Sanchez-Villamil, J. I., & Garcia-Atutxa, I. (2025). AI-driven epitope prediction: A system review, comparative analysis, and practical guide for vaccine development. npj Vaccines, 10, Article 207. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41541–025-01258-yGoogle ScholarPubMed
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