Do you use polite phrases when writing or dictating a query for ChatGPT? If so, be aware that there is a negative consequence to which you may not have thought of.
Politeness is essential in our daily interactions between humans, but it is far from indispensable when speaking with robots. Worse, it can even be superfluous and cost the language model publishers a lot of money.
On X (Twitter), a user wondered “how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs because of people saying 'please' and 'thank you'” to ChatGPT and other chatbots and AI functions based on the company's models. Unexpectedly, Sam Altman, head of OpenAI, responded, estimating “tens of millions of dollars” the cost of being polite to its users.
Politeness towards AI has an energetic and financial cost
He adds that this sum is, however, “well spent”, joking that you “never know”. He is referring here to theories according to which AI could end up taking over. In this case, we would be very happy not to have mistreated it and to have taken the time to put some requests into shape, even if they cost a small fortune. process for OpenAI.
Last February, we reported that ChatGPT was replacing Google in the habits of users, who tend to move away from traditional search engines in favor of chatbots and their faster and more precise responses. This trend was highlighted by a survey conducted by the British media group Future. According to this same study, 70% of users are polite when interacting with an AI. There are even 12% who declare that they use polite phrases precisely in the event of an AI uprising.
So, should we do without “thank you” and “please” at ChatGPT and others to reduce the energy consumption (and costs for companies) of AI use? Nothing is less certain. It is not proven, but many users believe they get better quality responses with well-constructed and polite prompts. And you?
tens of millions of dollars well spent–you never know
— Sam Altman (@sama) April 16, 2025
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