Artificial empathy in marketing interactions: bridging the human-AI gap in affective and social customer experience

Yuping Liu-Thompkins; Shintaro Okazaki; Hairong Li

doi:10.1007/s11747-022-00892-5

Artificial empathy in marketing interactions: bridging the human-AI gap in affective and social customer experience

Yuping Liu-Thompkins^*, Shintaro Okazaki, Hairong Li

^*Corresponding author for this work

Marketing : King's Business School

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

105 Citations (Scopus)

364 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform firm-customer interactions. However, current AI marketing agents are often perceived as cold and uncaring and can be poor substitutes for human-based interactions. Addressing this issue, this article argues that artificial empathy needs to become an important design consideration in the next generation of AI marketing applications. Drawing from research in diverse disciplines, we develop a systematic framework for integrating artificial empathy into AI-enabled marketing interactions. We elaborate on the key components of artificial empathy and how each component can be implemented in AI marketing agents. We further explicate and test how artificial empathy generates value for both customers and firms by bridging the AI-human gap in affective and social customer experience. Recognizing that artificial empathy may not always be desirable or relevant, we identify the requirements for artificial empathy to create value and deduce situations where it is unnecessary and, in some cases, harmful.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1198-1218
Number of pages	21
Journal	Journal of the academy of marketing science
Volume	50
Issue number	6
Early online date	8 Jul 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-022-00892-5
Publication status	Published - Nov 2022

Keywords

Artificial empathy · Artificial intelligence · Perspective taking · Empathic concern · Emotion mimicry · Customer experience

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10.1007/s11747-022-00892-5Licence: CC BY

Liu-Thompkins, Okazaki and Li 2022 in press JAMS
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Final published version, 1.13 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform firm-customer interactions. However, current AI marketing agents are often perceived as cold and uncaring and can be poor substitutes for human-based interactions. Addressing this issue, this article argues that artificial empathy needs to become an important design consideration in the next generation of AI marketing applications. Drawing from research in diverse disciplines, we develop a systematic framework for integrating artificial empathy into AI-enabled marketing interactions. We elaborate on the key components of artificial empathy and how each component can be implemented in AI marketing agents. We further explicate and test how artificial empathy generates value for both customers and firms by bridging the AI-human gap in affective and social customer experience. Recognizing that artificial empathy may not always be desirable or relevant, we identify the requirements for artificial empathy to create value and deduce situations where it is unnecessary and, in some cases, harmful.",

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Artificial empathy in marketing interactions: bridging the human-AI gap in affective and social customer experience

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