GENERATIVE AI AS A FACTOR OF EMPATHIC COMMUNICATION OF OUTSTANDING CHINESE TRADITIONAL CULTURAL HERITAGE

Abstract

The article examines generative artificial intelligence as a mediated instrument for empathic communication of outstanding Chinese traditional cultural heritage. In contrast to a purely theoretical interpretation, the study combines critical literature analysis with a qualitative case-oriented comparison of three publicly documented Chinese digital heritage projects: Digital Dunhuang, the Digital Library Cave co-created by Dunhuang Academy and Tencent, and Baidu Baike AI Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum. Empathic communication is operationalized not as machine empathy, but as a measurable communicative outcome that includes contextual understanding, affective involvement, dialogic agency, cultural specificity and transition to further cultural participation. The article shows that generative AI can support semantic adaptation, multimodal representation and participatory narrative work only under conditions of source traceability, expert and community verification, transparent labeling of generated content and critical control over cultural homogenization, commercialization and ideological filtering.