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The Prospects of Artificial Empathy : A Question of Attitude?

Stenseke, Jakob LU and Tagesson, Alexander LU (2025) In Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications 397. p.149-156
Abstract
Artificial empathy (AE) is a hotly contested topic. Recently, several empathy researchers have voiced criticism on the prospect of AE, arguing that it is impossible, unethical, or both. Contrary to these sentiments, we believe that further nuance and research are needed to better understand AE, its risks, and what it can potentially contribute to human well-being. We will focus on one obstacle to the success of AE: the human attitude toward artificial empathizers. In short, the obstacle is that humans will tend to discard the value of AE on the basis that it is generated by an AI. However, while it may be impossible to completely overcome this obstacle, we believe it remains an open but empirically testable question to what extent it can... (More)
Artificial empathy (AE) is a hotly contested topic. Recently, several empathy researchers have voiced criticism on the prospect of AE, arguing that it is impossible, unethical, or both. Contrary to these sentiments, we believe that further nuance and research are needed to better understand AE, its risks, and what it can potentially contribute to human well-being. We will focus on one obstacle to the success of AE: the human attitude toward artificial empathizers. In short, the obstacle is that humans will tend to discard the value of AE on the basis that it is generated by an AI. However, while it may be impossible to completely overcome this obstacle, we believe it remains an open but empirically testable question to what extent it can be alleviated. To this end, we hypothesize that AE, given the right conditions, can be a legitimate form of empathy which in turn may yield significant benefits to human welfare. Finally, we describe a planned empirical study that aims to further illuminate the attitudes-obstacle, and how it provides a challenge for the success of AE. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
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host publication
Social Robots with AI: Prospects, Risks, and Responsible Methods : Proceedings of Robophilosophy 2024 19–23 August 2024, Aarhus University, Denmark, and online - Proceedings of Robophilosophy 2024 19–23 August 2024, Aarhus University, Denmark, and online
series title
Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications
editor
Seibt, Johanna ; Fazekas, Peter and Santiago Quick, Oliver
volume
397
pages
149 - 156
publisher
IOS Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:105000806653
ISSN
0922-6389
1879-8314
ISBN
978-1-64368-567-0
978-1-64368-568-7
DOI
10.3233/FAIA241499
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
06b4902f-2434-488c-a05f-4a652e4e7d74
date added to LUP
2025-02-18 12:54:16
date last changed
2025-07-05 06:23:42
@inbook{06b4902f-2434-488c-a05f-4a652e4e7d74,
  abstract     = {{Artificial empathy (AE) is a hotly contested topic. Recently, several empathy researchers have voiced criticism on the prospect of AE, arguing that it is impossible, unethical, or both. Contrary to these sentiments, we believe that further nuance and research are needed to better understand AE, its risks, and what it can potentially contribute to human well-being. We will focus on one obstacle to the success of AE: the human attitude toward artificial empathizers. In short, the obstacle is that humans will tend to discard the value of AE on the basis that it is generated by an AI. However, while it may be impossible to completely overcome this obstacle, we believe it remains an open but empirically testable question to what extent it can be alleviated. To this end, we hypothesize that AE, given the right conditions, can be a legitimate form of empathy which in turn may yield significant benefits to human welfare. Finally, we describe a planned empirical study that aims to further illuminate the attitudes-obstacle, and how it provides a challenge for the success of AE.}},
  author       = {{Stenseke, Jakob and Tagesson, Alexander}},
  booktitle    = {{Social Robots with AI: Prospects, Risks, and Responsible Methods : Proceedings of Robophilosophy 2024 19–23 August 2024, Aarhus University, Denmark, and online}},
  editor       = {{Seibt, Johanna and Fazekas, Peter and Santiago Quick, Oliver}},
  isbn         = {{978-1-64368-567-0}},
  issn         = {{0922-6389}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{149--156}},
  publisher    = {{IOS Press}},
  series       = {{Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications}},
  title        = {{The Prospects of Artificial Empathy : A Question of Attitude?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/FAIA241499}},
  doi          = {{10.3233/FAIA241499}},
  volume       = {{397}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}