A formal understanding of computational empathy in interactive agents

Rational software agents, embodied as conversational agents, such as chatbots, are progressively being used in the area of health and well-being. In such applications, where rational agents aim to engage users in interpersonal conversations for, e.g., coaching, comfort or behavior-change interventions, there is an increased need for understanding systems’ empathic capabilities. In the current state-of-the-art, there are no tools to do that. In order to understand empathic capabilities in rational software systems, we need a precise notion of empathy. The literature discusses a variety of definitions of empathy, but there is no consensus of a formal definition. Based on a systematic literature review and a qualitative analysis of recent approaches to empathy in conversational agents for health and well-being, a formal definition (in terms of an ontology) of empathy is developed. We present the potential of the formal definition in a controlled user-study by applying it as a tool for assessing empathy in two state-of-the-art health and well-being chatbots; Replika and Wysa. Our findings suggest that our definition of empathy identifies different necessary conditions for assessing empathy in interactive agents.