Empathetic Large Language Models, the social capacities and human flourishing

Large Language Models (LLMs) are capable of fluent human-like conversations and are increasingly emulating the human trait of empathy. Consequently, people are turning to LLMs for companionship, with interest in friendships and even romantic relationships with AI on the rise. This paper assesses the goodness of users' relationships with these empathetic LLMs under an alternative framework that takes human flourishing as its main normative concern, combining perfectionism—an influential philosophical approach to human flourishing—with an analytic examination of LLM environments. While Empathetic LLMs hold some promise, we argue that certain properties of LLMs and the way that these models are currently being used in the form of AI companions are likely to impoverish the users' social capacities conducive to human flourishing. Moreover, the proliferation of AI companions could lead to people further isolating themselves from people who could provide genuine friendships. We end by making some suggestions on the kinds of features empathetic LLMs should have to ensure these models are used as tools to practice social interactions and refine communication techniques that can ultimately be applied outside the virtual space.