The risk of empty empathy talk and challenges of automated empathy in healthcare communication

Recent studies indicate that large language models outperform humans in empathic performance within text-based healthcare communication. Yet, promoting automated empathy risks fostering "empty empathy talk"-language devoid of relational depth and embodied meaning. Uncritical reliance on automated empathy may weaken clinicians' empathic skills and impair relational quality in patient care, underscoring the need to safeguard authentic empathy in future healthcare through reflective strategies.