Digital Empathy

Robots with artificial intelligence have their place in medicine and patient care as therapists or patient assistants. This is particularly applicable to people with various types of disabilities, and the greatest application is for patients with various neurodegenerative pathologies (Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, etc.). Also, artificial intelligence is gaining ground in gerontology and telemedicine. The paper is based on the fact that the world's population, especially in developed countries, is getting older and that in the next few decades, almost a third of the population will be over 60, which makes it a challenge to provide care and medical services for such a large population. This led to the coining of the term social and emotional robotics. This segment of robotics should be in charge of creating a therapeutic assistant or even some kind of patient supervision. So far, the greatest need has been expressed among people with disabilities-blind, visually impaired, wheelchair users, or those with neurodegenerative changes. This direction of development and use of artificial intelligence opens up the question of empathy, emotional interaction, and social intelligence, i.e., whether it is possible to develop these features of artificial intelligence, which until now were only characteristic of living beings. The paper will define certain problems with the use of artificial intelligence and interaction with people, that is, with users of services, in this case, patients. The importance of giving robots, i.e., artificial intelligence, the ability to understand emotions and interpret human behavior will be highlighted. In recent decades, in parallel with the development of robotics and artificial intelligence, neuroscience and cognitive psychology have been developed with the aim of investigating human emotions and behavior in detail. Important for science and AAI is the definition of artificial intelligence mechanisms that would allow robots to recognize emotions, facial expressions, gestures, and, finally, the mood of patients.