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https://theconversation.com/ai-is-beating-doctors-at-empathy-because-weve-turned-doctors-into-robots-269108>
"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
empathic in 13 out of 15 studies – 87% of the time.
Before we surrender healthcare’s human touch to our new robot overlords, we
need to examine what’s really happening here.
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 empathic, 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.
Inquiries into fatal healthcare tragedies in the UK – from Mid Staffordshire
NHS Foundation Trust to various patient safety reviews – have explicitly named
lack of empathy from healthcare professionals as contributing to avoidable
harm. But here’s the real issue: we’ve created a system that makes empathy
nearly impossible.
Doctors spend about a third of their time on paperwork and electronic health
records. Doctors must also follow pre-defined protocols and procedures. While
the documentation and protocols have some benefits, they have arguably had the
unintended consequence of forcing the doctors to play the bot game. Therefore,
we shouldn’t be surprised when the bot wins.
The burnout crisis makes this worse. Globally, at least a third of GPs report
burnout – exceeding 60% in some specialties. Burned-out doctors struggle to
maintain empathy. It’s not a moral failing; it’s a physiological reality.
Chronic stress depletes the emotional reserves required for genuine empathy.
The wonder isn’t that AI appears more empathic; it’s that human healthcare
professionals manage any empathy at all."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
