Empathy as an Aesthetic Infrastructure of Intercultural Communication: China and Post-Yugoslav Digital Narratives in the Age of AI

Abstract

This article examines intercultural communication between China and the post-Yugoslav states in the context of globalization and the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), proposing empathy as a central yet ambivalent aesthetic infrastructure through which cultural difference is mediated. While digital platforms and AI technologies have dramatically increased the intensity and visibility of cross-cultural encounters, they have also transformed the conditions under which cultures are perceived, felt, and understood. Drawing on continental philosophy, moral psychology, and communication theory—particularly the work of Jean-Luc Nancy, Maurice Blanchot, Zygmunt Bauman, Martin Hoffman, and Jürgen Habermas—this study conceptualizes empathy not merely as a psychological or ethical capacity, but as an aesthetic and communicative form shaped by media technologies. Drawing on a theoretical-comparative and interpretative approach, the article examines Chinese and post-Yugoslav affective and aesthetic regimes as they are represented, circulated, and emotionally experienced within contemporary digital environments. Chinese culture is globally circulated through narratives of harmony, technological progress, and collective futurity, while post-Yugoslav cultures are framed through trauma, nostalgia, and emotional authenticity. These representations invite empathic engagement, yet often at the cost of historical depth, internal plurality, and ethical responsibility. The article argues that AI-driven empathy produces emotional proximity without genuine dialogue, replacing communicative understanding with affective optimization. In response, it proposes a critical aesthetics of empathic communication that preserves distance, opacity, and interpretive labor as necessary conditions for meaningful intercultural dialogue. Such an approach is essential for rethinking cultural exchange between China and the post-Yugoslav space in the age of artificial intelligence.