Less “awe”-some art: How AI diminishes the empathic power of the arts

Abstract

The arts are widely recognized for their profound psychological and social benefits. Although historically viewed as a uniquely human pursuit, art is increasingly created with artificial intelligence (AI). In the current work, we explore whether AI-generated art evokes the same emotional reactions and inspires the same interpersonal benefits as human-created art. Integrating appraisal theories of emotion and philosophical accounts of the arts, we propose that art believed to be AI-generated elicits less awe than human-created art, which in turn diminishes empathy. Across five preregistered studies (N = 1598), we find consistent support for these relationships across multiple artistic media (visual and literary) and participant samples (art museum patrons, online participants, and community members). Although art is often an effective conduit for fostering empathy, our findings reveal that AI-generated art may lack the capacity to inspire awe in the same way as human-created art, diminishing its ability to cultivate empathy. This work reveals that responses to art are shaped by beliefs about its creator, raising important questions about the emotional and social consequences of AI's growing role in creative domains.