Empathetic AI: A Closer Look at Technology's 'Emotional' Side

While the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) in automating tasks are widely recognized, a less explored area of the technology is its potential to connect with human emotions and exhibit empathy.

Although AI can’t experience emotions like humans, organizations increasingly employ AI to demonstrate empathy in different scenarios, from customer service interactions to therapeutic applications.

How AI Empathizes

AI’s ability to empathize is not innate but acquired through training. Large language models (LLMs) form the backbone of this training, enabling AI to grasp the nuances, informalities, and subtleties of human interactions. The continuous learning process allows AI to identify and apply patterns that reflect empathy in conversations, utilizing vast datasets of conversational text.

Empathy in AI is not futuristic; it is already being implemented in different industries. Telecom company Cox and telemarketing giant Teleperformance use AI to gauge compassion in call center interactions. In contrast, doctors and therapists use generative AI in healthcare to craft empathetic responses to patients.

Lyssn.io, an AI platform for therapist training, suggests more empathetic text responses, fostering a deeper connection with patients.

There are also applications for autistic children, where AI-driven apps like Proloquo2Go facilitate communication by predicting and suggesting text and recognizing and adapting to unique communication styles.

AI vs. Human Empathy

Whether AI can empathize better than humans is complex and context-dependent. AI can gather preliminary information in high-pressure situations where human capacity may be stretched thin.

Mental health professionals suggest that AI can complement human efforts in socio-emotional learning by incorporating the knowledge of top psychologists to coach and train individuals.

Grin Lord, a clinical psychologist and CEO of mpathic.ai, told the Wall Street Journal: “AI can even be better than humans at helping us with socio-emotional learning because we can feed it the knowledge of the best psychologists in the world to coach and train people.”

In customer-facing roles, where interactions are pivotal, AI’s tireless nature can help, particularly in dealing with angry customers. However, AI’s inability to genuinely internalize emotions and experiences sets clear limitations.

The Future of Empathy

As AI increasingly integrates empathetic features, concerns arise about humans potentially losing the ability to empathize.

Jodi Halpern, a bioethics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that while AI may exhibit “cognitive empathy” based on training data, it falls short of “emotional empathy,” the genuine capacity to understand and share another person’s emotions.

The consensus is that AI will complement, not replace, human empathy. Despite its capabilities, AI lacks the emotional depth and authentic concern inherent to human empathy. While AI can enhance cognitive abilities through advanced training, its role will likely be a supportive tool rather than a substitute for human connection.