#  CBB Seminar | Social Seminar ~ Anat Perry, Radcliffe 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **September 25, 2025** 

 12:00PM - 01:15PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **CGIS South S010 Tsai Auditorium - Concourse Level**  

1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA 02138

 

 

 



 

#### Social Seminar ~

#### [Anat Perry](https://perrylab.huji.ac.il/), Radcliffe Scholar, Associate Professor, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

###### **Title: The Artificial-Empathy Paradox, or – What we Value in Human Empathy**

Abstract: AI-generated empathy is convincing and well received until recipients realize it is artificial; a phenomenon I term the 'artificial-empathy paradox'. I test and try to explain this phenomenon by examining the three subcomponents of human empathy – cognitive, affective and motivational, and the gaps between each of them and AI, from the perspective of the empathy recipient. We conducted nine studies (N = 6,282) where AI-generated empathic responses to participants’ emotional situations were labeled as either provided by humans or AI. Human attributed responses were rated as more empathic and supportive, and elicited more positive and fewer negative emotions, compared to AI-attributed ones. Moreover, participants own uninstructed belief that AI aided human-attributed responses, reduced perceived empathy and support. These effects replicated across varying response lengths, delays, iterations and LLMs, being primarily driven by responses emphasizing emotional sharing and care. Additionally, people consistently chose human interaction over AI when seeking emotional engagement. These findings suggest that empathy thought to be from a human source is valued more, perhaps due to humans’ ability to feel with the other, and to actually care. I propose that as AI revolutionizes much of our lives, empathy should persist as one of a few domains that we value more in their human form. I will also acknowledge the risks of increasing reliance on AI-generated empathy and discuss implications for relationships and for society at large.



 

 



 

 See also:- [ CBB Seminar | Social Seminar ](/event-type/cbb-seminar-social-seminar)
- [ Social Psychology ](/research-areas/social)
 
 

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