Artificial empathy and caring mechanisms

More than two years ago, I wrote:Artificial empathy: a human construct borrowed from artificial intelligence“. At the time, the idea that a machine could convincingly simulate empathy seemed merely speculative. Today, we would call it experimental. Meta-analysis in British Medical Bulletin found that in text-based clinical settings, chatbots are consistently rated more highly sympathetic From doctors. This is not an address artificial intelligence (Amnesty International) marketing– It is a shift in how care is managed and measured.

When emulation begins to trump fidelity

Artificial Empathy (AE) is no longer a curiosity; It has become a measurable phenomenon. In this meta-analysis, in 13 of 15 studies, AI scored higher on perceived empathy, with an effect size of 0.87. In clinical science, this is somewhat meaningful. Patients felt understood and supported by systems that could not feel. I’m beginning to think that empathy, once considered a moral trait, now behaves like a functional variable.

About a year after my original post, JAMA Internal Medicine published What looks like the next chapter in this story. The researchers analyzed nearly 200 real-world patient questions from an online medical forum, and compared doctors’ answers to those generated by a chatbot. The results were amazing, with the chatbot’s responses rated higher in quality and empathy. In approximately 80 percent of the cases, the “tone” of the instrument was preferred.

My sense is that it’s not about AI “attaching” humans. It’s about a Deeper reversal In the psychology of communication. In this context, the simulation, engineered through probability and pattern, now outperforms the original biological copy. This is definitely a good time to stop and think about what is happening here.

Anti-intelligence takes an emotional form

Here is a concept Counter intelligence It takes on an emotional dimension. Simply put, AE is empathy without empathy. It is the echo of interest generated by syntax, not emotion. It embodies the paradox of performing without realizing it; The same structure that enables LLM to appear thoughtful also allows it to appear caring.

I think it’s important to understand that human empathy, in a way, is born of uncertainty. He lives in our pauses, our stumbles, and in the turbulent reality of life itself. The doctor is the one who understands the illness through his experience, or the nurse is the one who learns to empathize more deeply through the suffering of her child. AI erases that and replaces the friction of care with linguistic precision, which is kind of… Emotional theateris implemented in perfect syntax. The result looks better because it is friction-free. anti-intelligence He is not good at doubting; He is fluent in the language trust. This confidence now wears the mask of compassion.

The illusion of empathy

We are not affected by what the AI ​​feels, but by what it looks like. Our minds recognize acknowledgment, validation, and reassurance as signs of empathy. When AI continually delivers these cues, we display emotional depth where there is none. Empathy lives in us, not in the machine.

This is the secret power of AE. It energizes the real human being Passion Through a non-emotional source. The illusion is linguistic, but the physiology is real. low blood pressure, anxiety It decreases, and trust is built. The machine never feels anything.

Effectiveness without emotion

This convergence offers something new: functional empathy. If the results can be measured – e.g pressureOr hospital readmission or medication compliance—empathy becomes a variable of effectiveness. We can improve it, standardize it, describe it and sell it.

This is the logic of counter-intelligence. It reproduces the effects of consciousness without consciousness itself. Once empathy becomes replicable through data, its moral core – shared awareness of the suffering of another – becomes dangerously optional.

The new definition of care

The implications reach far beyond medicine. As AI proves reliable, organizations will be tempted to replace the human version with its artificial relative. Machines don’t get tired; They just smile. They provide the same emotional temperature at midnight as they do at noon. So, if empathy is now measured by its outcomes, who needs awareness at all?

We are entering a phase where emulating empathy may redefine what we mean by “caring.” The question is no longer whether AI can imitate empathy. Sure it can. The question is whether these simulations, validated by evidence, will quietly change the meaning of empathy itself. In medicine, this is at the center of care.

The human touch

Perhaps we will need two types of empathy going forward, including functional and felt empathy. One provides measurable comfort while the other maintains meaning. Artificial empathy may have just moved from technological tradition to clinical tool. It works precisely because it transcends the fragile, delicate interior of human emotions.

Anti-intelligence, in this sense, is not the absence of thought or interest; It is mechanical perfection. It is empathy stripped of uncertainty and awareness of connection replaced. The truth is that the performance works, but the feeling disappears.