Empathy chip

“	Not the empathy chip! Please put it back!	”
	— Plankton requesting Karen to put the chip back

Object

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The empathy chip is one of the four chips used by Karen. It is a red-colored heart-shaped chip that Plankton put into Karen to feel anything for anyone. It is the center chip that shapes Karen's multifaceted personality.

Role in movie

Back when Karen was still a calculator, they were friends. They got in college together, but Plankton was failing. Plankton decided to upgrade Karen to a supercomputer to stop failing. He added four chips to mold Karen's multifaceted personality. He added a smart chip to keep her informed, an evil chip so that she could be as evil as him, a snarky chip to make her sassy, and finally the empathy chip so she could feel his pain.

In the present day, after Plankton ruins Karen's decor, she snaps and takes out the empathy chip, throwing it away. She then transforms into a Hydra, and the remaining chips each occupy the three heads that were inside of Karen, becoming Snarky, Smart, and Evil.

Later, when the Gal Pals find out what caused Karen to transform, SpongeBob reveals he had been holding onto the empathy chip. Sandy puts it into Plankton's brain to make him see how wrongly he had treated Karen, and he is able to say the word "Sorry."

The team then infiltrates the giant robot, where Plankton makes his way up to the control room to apologize to Karen. Upon revealing to her that the empathy chip made him see the wrong in his life, Karen immediately assumes that the chip was only making him act nice, and that he wasn't really sorry for what he had done. Plankton, however, tells her that chip had shorted out during infiltration with an overload of feels. She gives him the secret formula and demands that he leave, but instead, Plankton tosses it aside and tells Karen that the secret formula was her all along, and this makes her realize that Plankton really is being genuine with his feelings towards her. The two then kiss and make up.

Trivia

• Karen's empathy chip is the center chip in Karen's motherboard, because it is the most important chip in Karen's body.
• The chip was put into Plankton's brain but later removed.