The answer is that humans are inherently only capable of local empathy, on average. We have enough empathy to cover the local tribal unit and that's about it.
My hope is that AI, while probably causing great societal turmoil in the short term, leads to such abundance that a) everyone can live a dignified existence, and b) we'll have such great alternatives to animal products that nobody will chose to consume animals anymore due to its replacement either tasting better, being cheaper, etc.
The cynic in me says we'll all just be rendered useless and disposable by AI, but I'm doing my best to look for silver linings for the sake of my own mental health.
The famous "how does it feel to be a bat" also comes to mind as a tangent consideration.
Two people can just exchange a sight, and both understand what the situation means and what each need to do to reach a common mutually beneficial ground.
Two people might exchange at length with highly technical vocabulary and still both feel deeply not understood.