Machines capable of simulating emotional responses without actually experiencing them could be key to addressing the global healthcare workforce shortage, according to a new review.
Published by Beijing Institute of Technology Press, the study argues that while current rehabilitation robots offer standardised training, they lack the “positive affective benefit” of human interaction. This “empathy gap” could be bridged by technologies that simulate human emotions using algorithms.
“This motivates ‘artificial empathy,’ defined as a machine’s capacity to perceive, interpret, and simulate empathic responses during human–machine interaction — implemented via algorithmic recognition and response rather than genuine affective experience,” said Tianyu Jia, a researcher at Imperial College London.
Social robots
The review identifies three primary platforms for deploying this technology: multiplayer games that foster social connection, social robots that use physical cues such as gaze and touch, and virtual agents that leverage generative AI for personalised dialogue.
Future iterations aim to further estimate a user’s emotional state in real time using biometric data, such as heart rate and EEG signals, to adjust responses in real time.
However, the authors warn that replacing humans with algorithms entails significant risks, particularly if patients come to believe that the machine truly cares for them.
“Ethically, overreliance on simulated ‘pseudo-empathy’ can foster misuse and false attachment and displace real relationships, while GenAI hallucinations can be harmful in high-stakes healthcare,” Jia cautioned.
“Artificial empathy should remain an adjunct rather than a replacement for interpersonal communication.”
