Artificial empathy (AE) is considered to be the next step in the development of artificial intelligence, with companion robots becoming able to detect and respond to human emotions. According to scientists, although the technology can be perceived as scary or threatening by many people, it could also have a significant advantage over humans in professions which are traditionally involved in emotional role-playing such as the health care sector. From the care-giver perspective for instance, performing emotional labor above and beyond the requirements of paid labor often results in chronic stress or burnout, and the development of a feeling of being desensitized to patients. However, it is argued that the emotional role-playing between the care-receiver and a robot can actually have a more p