Feeling seen by something that doesn’t feel: simulated empathy, epistemic vigilance, and ethics of AI

This essay examines simulated empathy in generative AI, arguing that rhetorical fluency can create the illusion of recognition without reciprocity. It frames AI empathy as a linguistic performance that mimics care while lacking cognition, accountability, and moral relation. The essay warns that mistaking fluency for understanding can weaken critique, flatten judgment, and displace human relationships. It calls for epistemic vigilance in AI-mediated feedback and offers a vocabulary for understanding how simulated empathy shapes trust, authority, and responsibility in higher education.