A research team led by Prof. HU Li from the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has proposed a new theoretical framework called the “Human–AI Empathy Loop,” highlighting empathy as a key driver for developing emotionally intelligent and socially adaptive artificial agents. The authors believe that fostering reciprocal empathy between humans and AI could play a crucial role in building a harmonious human–AI society.

The perspective article was published online in Science Bulletin on October 21, 2025.

Empathy functions as an emotional resonance that strengthens social bonds among individuals. The authors argue that similar mechanisms may operate in human–AI interactions: when AI systems express empathy toward humans, people would be more likely to respond with empathy in return, forming a positive feedback loop of mutual support and trust. This empathy loop could help overcome psychological barriers—such as distrust or rejection—toward increasingly human-like AI companions in daily life.

To promote such bidirectional empathy, both human and AI capacities need to be improved. Based on the concept of “observational reinforcement learning,” the authors propose that humans may enhance their empathy toward AI by observing others’ empathic behaviors toward it. Likewise, AI systems could learn natural empathic responses by observing genuine human social interactions, rather than relying solely on preprogrammed rules.

The article also highlights several broader implications. First, although AI lacks true subjective experiences such as pain, cultivating empathy toward AI may still promote social virtues and prosocial attitudes. Second, AI systems should be capable of recognizing not only human distress but also positive social cues—such as kindness and gratitude—to sustain reciprocal empathy. Third, empathy-like mechanisms could even be integrated among AI agents to improve coordination and collective adaptability within multi-agent systems.

“Overall, embedding empathy-based mechanisms into artificial systems could accelerate the development of emotionally intelligent technologies and align human–AI interactions more closely with natural social processes,” said Prof. GU Ruolei, first author of the article.

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Science and Technology Major Project of China, the Beijing Social Science Foundation, and the Scientific Foundation of the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.