Should we be polite to AI? Sam Altman says 'Please', 'Thank You' to ChatGPT costs millions of dollars

OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, recently pointed out that user politeness—such as incorporating "please" and "thank you" in conversations with ChatGPT—plays a significant role in the company’s operating costs. A user on X had asked how much OpenAI spends on electricity due to these courteous exchanges. Altman responded that it accounts for "tens of millions of dollars well spent," implying that the benefits of these interactions are not easily measured. He elaborated that while these polite expressions may seem insignificant, they require ChatGPT to interpret and generate complete responses, which increases the computational load. This rise in processing demands, in turn, leads to higher energy consumption and expenses for the company.

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