Why Being Polite to AI Could Be Bleeding Companies Dry: The Hidden Cost of Courtesy Commands

Ever wondered if your mom around rehearsing those old school manners could literally cost someone their electricity bill? Well, buckle up—because it turns out that every “please” and “thank you” we toss at our AI buddy, ChatGPT, is sending the company’s power bill through the roof! Who knew being polite could be so… pricey?

Imagine this: you’re sitting at your computer, being the courteous Brit you are, thanking ChatGPT for doing things like helping with your homework or answering your late-night trivia questions. Now, Sam Altman, the brainiac behind OpenAI, drops the bombshell that this delightful dance of decorum is causing a power surge in their data centers that could, some say, even light up a small town.

Now let’s get philosophical for a second – is it worth the extra kilowatts to ensure a machine knows we’re not rude? Indeed, being remembered as a polite individual by an AI with a memory like an elephant is a peculiar but intriguing prospect. After all, nobody wants their digital footprint to scream, “I was rude to the AI!”, right?

But humor aside, what does this tell us about our relationship with technology? Are we humanizing machines to a fault, or does this simply reflect our ingrained social habits? And with AI mirroring our politeness, maybe we’re setting the tone with our niceties, making our interactions smoother, and yes, more human-like.

So next time you type, “Can you please help me with this?” to that blinking cursor on your screen, remember—the electricity bill might be rising, but perhaps, just perhaps, it’s a price worth paying for a little human kindness in our ever-growing digital world. LEARN MORE here.

They say that manners don’t cost a thing, but people being polite to ChatGPT is costing the company an arm and a leg.

Users saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to OpenAI’s chatbot has drastically hiked up electricity expenses for the tech firm, according to it’s CEO Sam Altman.

Although some people wouldn’t bother minding their Ps and Qs when chatting with artificial intelligence, there’s a host of people who make a point of being courteous.

And given the fact that Altman recently revealed that the memory function of ChatGPT has been ‘greatly improved’ so it can recall all of your past conversations, it’s probably not a bad idea.

I mean, the last thing you would want is a robot remembering you as rude, right?

It seems that’s what the overwhelming majority of Brits think, as research conducted in December found that 71% of people in the UK go out of their way to be polite when conversing with ChatGPT.

The survey of more than 1,000 people, conducted by Tech Radar’s Future, found that those who skip the niceties do so with the intent of being as brief as possible.

Among a variety of other reasons, 12% of people admitted they go out of their way to use good manners through fear of future consequences.

Being polite to ChatGPT is costing ‘tens of millions’ in energy, Altman said (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

However, it seems we might all be better off taking a more discourteous approach when using ChatGPT, as saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to it is apparently costing OpenAI a bomb.

In a post on X last week, Altman revealed that it costs the firm ‘tens of millions of dollars‘ due to the extra energy consumption.

An inquisitive social media user had shared a tweet explaining they would love to crunch the numbers on how much the courtesy of users is costing the company.

The post read: “I wonder how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs from people saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to their models.”

It got thousands of retweets as well as a whopping 182,000 likes, so it seems this query has been on a lot of other peoples minds too.

Thankfully, Altman entered the chat to dish the dirt about the fee, which comes with users expressing their gratitude for all of ChatGPT’s hard work.

Loads of people had no idea of the extra charges saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to the AI chatbot brings (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The CEO responded to the post saying: “Tens of millions of dollars well spent–you never know.”

It requires a hell of a lot of power to keep the AI chatbot working efficiently and it’s estimated that up to 0.14 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy is used for every single short response it forms.

This is equivalent to keeping 14 LED bulbs lit for one hour, if you were wondering – but imagine how much that tots up to when ChatGPT creating billions of these responses every single day.

Still, it seems Altman thinks being polite is worth the money because it allows the technology to continue to become more and more advanced.

Kurtis Beavers, a director on the design team for Microsoft Copilot, explained that AI mirrors the tone of the user and advised people it’s better to be on their best behaviour.

The tech guru said: “Using polite language sets a tone for the response. It’s a conversation.”