Empathy is a completely natural instinct. Ever heard the phrase “humans will pack bond with everything”? People see another creature in distress and automatically feel bad for it and want to help, even when those are wild animals and potentially dangerous. Sometimes that instinct can even be triggered by plants or objects - a dried out flower with hanging petals looks “sad” to us even tho noone has ever proven that flowers are capable of such emotions. A stuck roomba trying to get itself unstuck looks as if it is struggling even if it just runs a pre-programmed set of motions. Yet most humans with a basic level of empathy look at these and immediatly think “oh no, poor thing!”

Whether or not the recipient of your empathetic feelings is real, or able to feel, that question is an afterthought. It is something that happens after your instinct has been triggered already.

… or should be, IMHO. I do not trust anyone who is able to somehow override that instinct and first ask whether or not the struggling creature/person “deserves” empathy, based on whatever criteria they deem worthy …