Empathy in the age of AI
Why the limitations of empathetic AI could be its true potential
Dear Rethinkers,
Empathy is such a powerful concept that is being talked about a lot these days in the context of retaining genuine human connection in the age of AI. The concept of empathy is only a little more than a century old and it originated not in science, business or technology – but in art.
In the 1800s, a growing field called the 'philosophy of aesthetics' looked at questions such as 'What is beauty?' A German psychologist, Theodor Lipps — considered the "father of empathy" — introduced the idea that the power of art lies not in the work itself but in the act of viewing. He believed that empathy with art is a form of projection, where we resonate with the artist's feelings as our own.
In 1873, German aesthetics student Robert Vischer described this projection of emotion as Einfühlung, or "feeling into." Decades later, in 1909, British psychologist Edward Titchener translated the word into English as "empathy," deriving it from the Greek empatheia, or "in pathos.”
I have long been fascinated by the ability of the arts to deliver experiences that can shift people’s feelings, thoughts, and attitudes. So, I love that the conceptual roots of empathy started in art — connecting us to experiences outside ourselves; it’s a way of blurring the divides between self, others and the world.
As Rachel Corbett writes in You Must Change Your Life:
“Empathy explains why people sometimes describe the experience of “losing themselves” in a powerful work of art. Maybe their ears deafen to the sounds around them, the hair rises on the backs of their necks or they lose track of the passage of time… When a work of art is effective, it draws the observer out into the world, while the observer draws the work back into his or her body.”
The concept of empathy changed how artists thought about their work and how viewers related to it for decades to come.
