Empathy as a predictive signal: why we devalue AI empathy

Anat Perry

doi:10.1016/j.tics.2026.03.003

Empathy as a predictive signal: why we devalue AI empathy

Anat Perry^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Short survey › peer-review

Abstract

People devalue empathic responses believed to be edited by artificial intelligence (AI). I propose that this reflects the role of empathy as a predictive social signal: genuine human empathy updates expectations about closeness and future commitment, a function that is weakened when empathy becomes cheap, automated, or outsourced.

Original language	English
Journal	Trends in Cognitive Sciences
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2026.03.003
State	Accepted/In press - 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2026 Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords

artificial intelligence
empathy
large language models
prediction
social interactions
social maps

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10.1016/j.tics.2026.03.003

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abstract = "People devalue empathic responses believed to be edited by artificial intelligence (AI). I propose that this reflects the role of empathy as a predictive social signal: genuine human empathy updates expectations about closeness and future commitment, a function that is weakened when empathy becomes cheap, automated, or outsourced.",

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year = "2026",

doi = "10.1016/j.tics.2026.03.003",

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KW - artificial intelligence

KW - empathy

KW - large language models

KW - prediction

KW - social interactions

KW - social maps

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Empathy as a predictive signal: why we devalue AI empathy

Abstract

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Keywords

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