AI is beating doctors at empathy because we've turned them into robots

Globally, at least a third of GPs report burnout. Chronic stress depletes the emotional reserves required for genuine empathy.

- Jeremy Howick

Artificial intelligence has mastered chess, art and medical diagnosis. Now it's apparently beating doctors at something we thought was uniquely human: empathy.

A recent review published in the British Medical Bulletin analysed 15 studies comparing AI-written responses with those from human healthcare professionals. Blinded researchers then rated these responses for empathy using validated assessment tools.

The results were startling: AI responses were rated as more empathetic in 13 out of 15 studies — 87 per cent of the time.

Before we surrender healthcare's human touch to our new robot overlords, we need to examine what's really happening.

The studies compared written responses rather than face-to-face interactions, giving AI a structural advantage: no vocal tone to misread, no body language to interpret and unlimited time to craft perfect responses.

Critically, none of these studies measured harms. They assessed whether AI responses sounded empathetic, not whether they led to better outcomes or caused damage through misunderstood context, missed warning signs or inappropriate advice.

Yet even accounting for these limitations, the signal was strong. And the technology is improving daily - “carebots” are becoming increasingly lifelike and sophisticated.

Beyond methodological concerns, there's a simpler explanation: Many doctors admit that their empathy declines over time, and patient ratings of healthcare professionals' empathy vary greatly.