The past century’s politics was defined by control of resources, land, or media. The next may be defined by control of emotion.

Governments and political actors increasingly treat public sentiment as a measurable variable. Artificial intelligence has turned feeling into data - something to be analyzed, anticipated, and optimized. From local governments using sentiment dashboards to political consultancies tracking voter anger in real time, empathy has become an instrument of governance.

Artificial empathy is not emotion; it is simulation. Large language models and affective computing systems detect tone, infer emotional state, and generate responses that appear caring or responsive.

In clinical trials, such systems already outperform humans in surface-level empathy. A 2023 study publi

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