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
- Chapter 1 A Very Human History of Artificial Empathy
- Chapter 2 Try to See Things from My Point of View
- Chapter 3 Does It Take Two to Empathize?
- Chapter 4 Models Match or Surpass Objective Human Performance on Various Tasks
- Chapter 5 Synthetic Support
- Chapter 6 Is Empathic AI Possible?
- Part II Perceiving AI Empathy
- Part III Beyond Text: Embodiment and Robots
- Part IV Moral Implications
- Index
- Studies In Emotion and Social Interaction
- References
Chapter 1 - A Very Human History of Artificial Empathy
from Part I - Understanding Empathy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2026
By
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
- Chapter 1 A Very Human History of Artificial Empathy
- Chapter 2 Try to See Things from My Point of View
- Chapter 3 Does It Take Two to Empathize?
- Chapter 4 Models Match or Surpass Objective Human Performance on Various Tasks
- Chapter 5 Synthetic Support
- Chapter 6 Is Empathic AI Possible?
- Part II Perceiving AI Empathy
- Part III Beyond Text: Embodiment and Robots
- Part IV Moral Implications
- Index
- Studies In Emotion and Social Interaction
- References
Summary
A question that arises when contemplating artificial intelligence and empathy is whether it would matter to the empathy recipient if AI genuinely feels or cares. This is a seemingly novel issue, born of the capacity of computers to simulate human empathy. I will suggest, however, that questions concerning “artificial empathy” should not be limited to AI chatbots, as such forms of empathy that are void of feeling are widespread in human relationships as well. This chapter offers a short history of artificial empathy and how it became widely accepted, well before AI, beginning with the operationalization of empathy in mid-twentieth-century clinical psychology. Evaluations of AI’s empathetic abilities are often based on comparisons to human or “real” empathy – a romanticized form of empathy that is, sadly, less common than we appreciate. This chapter offers an alternative perspective that might prove valuable, comparing AI’s “artificial empathy” to human “artificial empathy.”
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Empathy and Artificial IntelligenceChallenges, Advances and Ethical Considerations, pp. 15 - 22Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
References
Aspey, D. N. (1975). Empathy: Let’s get the hell on with it. The Counseling Psychologist, 5(2), 10–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biddle, S. (2012, August 28). How to be a genius: This is Apple’s secret employee training manual. Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/how-to-be-a-genius-this-is-apples-secret-employee-trai-5938323Google Scholar
Campbell, D. T. (1979). Assessing the impact of planned social change. Evaluation and Program Planning, 2(1), 67–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carkhuff, R. R. (1971). Training as a preferred mode of treatment. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 18(2), 123–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling. University of California Press.Google Scholar
Mankekar, P., & Gupta, A. (2017). Future tense: Capital, labor, and technology in a service industry. Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 7(3), 67–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNally, R. J. (2003). Progress and controversy in the study of post-traumatic stress disorder. Annual Review of Psychology, 54(1), 229–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers, S. (1999). Empathy: Is that what I hear you saying. The Person-Centered Journal, 6(2), 141–152.Google Scholar
Perry, A. (2023). AI will never convey the essence of human empathy. Nature Human Behaviour, 7(11), 1808–1809.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rogers, C. R. (1957). The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 21(2), 95–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Satran, S. (2023). From craft to labor: How automation is transforming the practice of psychotherapy. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, 47(3), 605–625.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scott, J. C. (1998). Seeing like a state: How certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, P., & Bain, P. (1999). “An assembly line in the head”: Work and employee relations in the call centre. Industrial Relations Journal, 30(2), 101–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Truax, C. B. (1961). A scale for the measurement of accurate empathy. University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Truax, C. B., & Carkhuff, R. R. (1965). Client and therapist transparency in the psychotherapeutic encounter. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 12(1), 3–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weizenbaum, J. (1966). ELIZA: A computer program for the study of natural language communication between man and machine. Communications of the ACM, 9(1), 36–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Accessibility standard: WCAG 2.2 AAA
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
The HTML of this chapter
complies with version 2.2 of the
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG), offering more comprehensive accessibility measures for a broad range
of users and attains the highest
(AAA)
level of WCAG compliance, optimising the user experience by meeting the most extensive
accessibility guidelines.
Content Navigation
Table of contents navigation
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Index navigation
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.
Reading Order & Textual Equivalents
Single logical reading order
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
Short alternative textual descriptions
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
Full alternative textual descriptions
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.
Visualised data also available as non-graphical data
You can access graphs or charts in a text or tabular format, so you are not excluded if you cannot process visual displays.
You can access graphs or charts in a text or tabular format, so you are not excluded if you cannot process visual displays.
Visual Accessibility
Use of colour is not sole means of conveying information
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
Use of high contrast between text and background colour
You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.
You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.