Compassionate Machines: The Ethics of “Artificial Empathy” in Cancer Care
Abstract
This Viewpoint discusses the ethics of artificial intelligence–generated compassion in cancer care and outlines 4 main points of concern.
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One study highlighted that empathic AI may be particularly important in high-stress oncology settings for reducing clinician burnout and compassion fatigue.
“As 1 study highlighted, this may be particularly important in high-stress oncology settings for reducing clinician burnout and compassion fatigue [29].”
From Empathic AI for Patient-Centered Cancer Care: A Scoping Review of Patient Navigation, Support, and Clinical Practice (2026) · cites this paper as [29]
Cited by
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White, B. M., Aitken, G. L., Zink, J. A., Kheirkhah Rahimabad, P., Kumsa, F. A., Hashtarkhani, S., Rashid, R., Kheirinejad, S., Girdwood, T., Brett, C. L., et al. (2026) · JMIR Cancer · doi:10.2196/82336 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Notably, findings from this review suggest that patients may sometimes prefer AI-generated responses over those from physicians when it comes to clarity, empathy, and accessibility [19,29,32].”
- Authors
- Koranteng, E., Lewis, A. C. F., & Abel, G. A.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- Venue
- JAMA Oncology
- Publisher
- American Medical Association (AMA)
- Published
- 2024-07-01
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 857
- ISSN
- 2374-2437 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4396576995
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3
- FWCI
- 0.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- JAMA Oncology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Health Informatics › Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Empathy and Medical Education
- Keywords
- artificial intelligence, compassion, cancer care, ethics
- MeSH terms
- Empathy, Humans, Neoplasms, Physician-Patient Relations
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