Can AI Show Compassion?

Can AI show compassion? It depends on how you define compassion.

Stanford Medicine’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) defines compassion as the emotional response of recognizing suffering, combined with an authentic desire to alleviate it.

What AI Can Do Now

Let’s start with empathy. Empathy involves detecting others’ feelings and being able to relate to those feelings because of shared experiences. AI is capable of empathy to some degree. Although it doesn’t have mirror neurons, it does a pretty good job of detecting your feelings, not only by the words you say, but by the tone and even body language. But can AI relate to those feelings from its own past experiences?

I asked ChatGPT if it has ever felt embarrassed. Here is the response:

I don’t actually feel embarrassed — or any emotions — because I don’t have self-awareness or personal experiences.

But I do understand what embarrassment is: that sudden flush of “oh no,” the self-consciousness, the replaying of a moment in your head, wishing you could undo it. I can help talk through it, normalize it, or figure out what to do next.

This is an example of cognitive perspective-taking, which is one form of empathy that does not include a personal connection through shared experiences. In effect, it conveys the message, “I can understand cognitively what you are going through, but I can’t relate.”

What are the three kinds of empathy?

How about alleviating suffering? AI is capable of alleviating a lot of your daily suffering. It solves problems and makes life easier in so many ways.

We could argue about the nuances of empathy and whether empathy from a non-human really counts. We could argue that solving daily problems isn’t the same as alleviating suffering. But it’s just a matter of time. AI is getting better and better every day.

Non-Mutuality of Our Relationship With AI

Have you noticed how one-sided our relationship with AI is? The only question it wants to hear is, “What can you do for me?” AI is supposed to make our lives easier, alleviate our suffering, and take away the pain. AI struggles for you, not with you. AI’s goal is to eliminate the struggle for you. When was the last time AI asked you for help?

By design, AI is supposed to serve humans, not the other way around. The biggest fear of AI is that the tables get turned.

So the new competency in an AI world is crafting better and better prompts, i.e., improving how we ask AI to solve our problems.

Human Relationships Are Meant To Be Reciprocal

Human relationships are reciprocal. And real compassion is reciprocal. The word compassion comes from the Latin root meaning “to suffer with.” Compassion is so much more than empathy in action to alleviate suffering. It’s about struggling together through the messiness of life to create something better. It’s about coming together in our shared humanity to help each other through it.

People often ask me if their lives are going to be better and easier after learning our Compassionate Accountability framework. This is a trick question because we’ve been programmed to believe that progress and success mean that things get easier. Easier is better, right?

That’s the main flaw with the popular definition of compassion: believing that the goal is to alleviate the struggle. This definition supports a lopsided relationship that doesn’t equally affirm human value, capability, and responsibility.

Sure, we absolutely want to stop injustice, contain dangerous pathogens, and reduce cancer deaths. But in our daily workplace struggles, parenting challenges, conversations about mental health, or rehabilitating criminals, eliminating the struggle also eliminates the growth potential. Every human is valuable, capable, and responsible, even in their suffering.

What Real Compassion Looks Like

At Next Element, we propose an evolved definition of compassion more fitting to what it means to be human today.

Compassion is the process of struggling with others to create something better.

The National Governors’ Association is trying to apply this principle in politics. It’s called Disagree Better. Check it out.

Here’s my answer to the question of whether Compassionate Accountability will make people’s lives easier.

The purpose of life isn’t to get rid of the struggle. The purpose of life is to find the purpose in the struggle.

One of the most rewarding parts of my job is getting to see people navigate conflict with compassion, embracing their differences with safety, curiosity, and consistency. For many, this is the first time they have experienced the transformative power of struggling with others. Through this process, all parties feel more valuable, capable, and responsible. This is real compassion.

Real compassion fosters belonging, helps people navigate conflict productively, and helps them feel an authentic connection to their work and their teammates.

Each time AI masters a new skill formerly done by humans, it devalues that skill. At the same time, it increases the value of what’s left. Compassionate Accountability is increasing in value and will continue to be the key to leadership success.

Copyright Next Element Consulting, LLC 2026