The Cost of Courtesy: OpenAI's Millions Spent on Polite AI Interactions
25 Sources
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Your politeness could be costly for OpenAI | TechCrunch
"I wonder how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs from people saying 'please' and 'thank you' to their models." It was a seemingly random question posed by a user on X (formerly Twitter), but OpenAI CEO Sam Altman jumped in to reply that typing those words has added up to "tens of
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Why Being Polite to ChatGPT Is Costing OpenAI Millions and Wasting Electricity
Though it might be tempting to say "please" and "thank you" to ChatGPT as if speaking to a human, it may cause more harm than good, at least for OpenAI's bottom line. Polite exchanges are costing the AI company a fortune, CEO Sam Altman revealed in an exchange on X. "I wonder how much money OpenAI
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Being polite to ChatGPT costs OpenAI tens of millions
Conventional wisdom holds that being polite to AI chatbots makes them respond better, but no one stops to think how much energy that politeness is wasting. Well, at least not until last week, when one user wondered aloud on X how much electricity is burned up by people saying "please" and "thank
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Sam Altman says polite ChatGPT users are burning millions of OpenAI dollars
Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. Manners are not ruining the environment: The costs of training and running artificial intelligence model are massive. Even excluding everything but electricity, AI data centers burn through over
[5]
Saying 'Thank You' to ChatGPT Is Costly. But Maybe It's Worth the Price.
Sign up for the On Tech newsletter. Get our best tech reporting from the week. Get it sent to your inbox. The question of whether to be polite to artificial intelligence may seem a moot point -- it is artificial, after all. But Sam Altman, the chief executive of the artificial intelligence
[6]
Here's what really happens when you don't say 'thank you' to ChatGPT -- and I why I always do
I have spent a lot of time testing and chatting with ChatGPT. And, the more AI seamlessly integrates into my daily life, the nuances of human-AI interaction are bound to blur. But how polite do we need to be to chatbots like ChatGPT? A recent comment by a follower to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
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Who has time to be polite to ChatGPT? I don't understand why people say please and thank you to AI
I can tell the difference between people and machines, thank you The question of whether you should say please or thank you to ChatGPT is having something of a moment right now, and that's made me consider my own interactions with the popular chatbot. I've never really thought about it before,
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Being nice to ChatGPT is bad for the environment
Manners don't cost a thing. At least, that's what I was told when I was growing up. Then again, I wasn't raised inside OpenAI's thousand-GPU data center in Quincy, Washington. If I had been, I might have had a more nuanced perspective on the impact of "please" and "thank you" on the company's
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Your politeness toward ChatGPT is increasing OpenAI's energy costs
Everyone's heard the expression, "Politeness costs nothing," but with the advent of AI chatbots, it may have to be revised. Just recently, someone on X wondered how much OpenAI spends on electricity at its data centers to process polite terms like "please" and "thank you" when people engage with
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Saying 'please' and 'thank you' to ChatGPT costs OpenAI millions, Sam Altman says
Being polite to your AI assistant could cost millions of dollars. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that showing good manners to a ChatGPT model -- such as saying "please" and "thank you" -- adds up to millions of dollars in operational expenses. Altman responded to a user on X (formerly Twitter)
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Should You Be Polite to ChatGPT Even If It Wastes Sam Altman's Money?
After OpenAI CEO Sam Altman bemoaned the massive additional costs of people saying "please" and "thank you" to ChatGPT, one New York Times reporter is making the case that it's worth the price. In a new piece, NYT culture writer Sopan Deb acknowledged that the financial and environmental toll of
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Saying 'Please', 'Thank you' to ChatGPT Costs OpenAI Millions of Dollars | AIM Media House
ChatGPT has ranked as the eighth most visited site in the world as of March 2025. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has revealed in a tweet on X that polite courtesies with ChatGPT, such as "please" and "thank you," have cost the company tens of millions of dollars in electricity expenses. The computing
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Users being polite to ChatGPT is costing OpenAI millions -- Sam Altman
People saying "please" and "thank you" to ChatGPT is costing the AI firm an enormous sum of money, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says users sending "please" and "thank you" messages to ChatGPT is costing the company tens of millions of dollars. "Tens of millions of
[14]
Please stop saying "please" to ChatGPT
OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, revealed that the company's energy costs are significantly impacted by users being polite to its ChatGPT chatbot, with the extra processing burden resulting in "tens of millions of dollars" in expenses. The conversational AI has become so realistic that many users feel
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Saying 'please' and 'thank you' to ChatGPT costs millions of dollars, CEO says
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is developing an early warning system to detect if artificial intelligence (AI) creates biological weapons. Being polite to artificial intelligence can be quite expensive. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on social media last week that saying "please" and "thank you" to
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Being Polite to AI Costs Millions, but I'll Keep Doing It Just In Case
This AI App Will Help You Prove You Didn't Use AI to Write Your Paper Do you always say "Please" and "Thank you" when conversing with artificial intelligence chatbots? It turns out that that simple act of politeness is expensive, but it may prove to be money well spent in the future. Politeness
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Saying 'Please' and 'Thank You' to ChatGPT Costs OpenAI 'Tens of Millions of Dollars'
Sending a query through ChatGPT requires 10 times more energy than running a standard Google search. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed last week that OpenAI's electricity bill is "tens of millions of dollars" higher due to people being polite to ChatGPT. Last week, an X user posted: "I wonder how
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Do you say 'Please' to ChatGPT? Sam Altman reveals how much electricity your manners cost to OpenAI
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently revealed that polite phrases like "please" and "thank you" used in ChatGPT interactions are contributing to tens of millions of dollars in electricity costs. Despite the financial impact, Altman described the expense as "well spent," emphasizing the value of natural,
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Are you saying 'thanks', 'please' to ChatGPT? It's costing OpenAI millions
Altman was responding to a post on X (formerly Twitter), which read, "I wonder how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs from people saying 'please' and 'thank you' to their models."OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has revealed that customers speaking politely to ChatGPT, saying "thank you" and
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Saying 'Thank You' And Being Polite To ChatGPT Is Costing Tens Of Millions, But Sam Altman Says It's Money Well Spent
Users are increasingly relying on digital assistants for basic queries and even for interacting with the tool and seeking companionship. Many of the users communicate in a way that is more human-like, making the conversation feel more natural by remaining mindful and respectful in the language
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Did you know that saying "please" and "thank you" to ChatGPT is burning millions?
The latest news on the United States. You heard that right. It seems that adding a "please" or "thank you" when interacting with AI is coming with a hefty price tag. According to Sam Altman, these polite exchanges are racking up tens of millions in computing costs. While some may see it as a
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Sam Altman: Polite behavior towards AI wastes millions in electricity
Sam Altman reveals that using polite language with chatbots like ChatGPT wastes millions of dollars in electricity and computing resources, urging a shift towards more efficient interactions. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAi, the company responsible for the artificial intelligence software, ChatGPT,
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Saying 'please' and 'thank you' to ChatGPT costs tens of millions of...
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted that simple courtesies such as saying "please" and "thank you" to his company's ChatGPT bot are surprisingly expensive -- costing the firm substantial sums in electricity expenses. Altman made the revelation when a user on the social media platform X asked about the
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They discover that using "please" and "thank you" with AI leads to better responses
Although the results are favorable in promoting a human approach, the question of the need to always be polite is also raised The use of polite words like "please" and "thank you" when interacting with artificial intelligence models, such as ChatGPT, could have a significant impact on the
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OpenAI loses millions of dollars everytime you say 'Please' and 'Thank You', Sam Altman reveals
Tens of millions of dollars have been spent in electricity costs from people saying 'please' and 'thank you' to ChatGPT. Recently, when the Ghibli trend went viral, there was a huge surge in ChatGPT users, both trying to generate their pictures and otherwise. At that time, Sam Altman came forward
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reveals that users' politeness to AI chatbots costs the company millions in electricity, sparking debates on the necessity and impact of being courteous to AI.
The Costly Courtesy of AI Interactions
In a surprising revelation, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman disclosed that users saying "please" and "thank you" to AI chatbots like ChatGPT has cost the company "tens of millions of dollars" in electricity expenses
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. This statement, made in response to a user's query on X (formerly Twitter), has ignited a debate about the necessity and impact of being polite to AI.The Energy Cost of AI Politeness
Every interaction with AI chatbots requires computing power, and even small additions like "please" and "thank you" add up when multiplied across millions of users. According to a Goldman Sachs report, while a Google search consumes 0.3 watt-hours of electricity, a single ChatGPT search uses 2.9 watt-hours
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. This increased energy consumption has significant implications for data center power usage and water consumption for cooling.The Scale of AI Energy Consumption
The energy demands of AI are substantial and growing. US data centers currently consume about 4.4% of the country's electricity, a figure expected to reach 12% by 2028
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. The International Energy Agency predicts global data center electricity consumption will more than double by 2030, with AI driving most of this growth.Debating the Real Costs
While Altman's statement has garnered attention, some experts question the actual cost of politeness. Calculations based on GPT-3.5 Turbo's token pricing suggest that the cost of adding "please" and "thank you" might be closer to $146,000 per year, far less than the "tens of millions" mentioned
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. However, without access to OpenAI's internal metrics, precise figures remain elusive.Related Stories
The Cultural Implications of AI Politeness
Despite the costs, there may be cultural reasons to maintain politeness in AI interactions. Research indicates that using polite language can improve AI outputs and set a tone for more respectful, collaborative responses
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. Some experts argue that cultivating politeness in AI interactions could have positive spillover effects on human-to-human interactions5
.The Future of Human-AI Interactions
As AI continues to advance, questions about how humans should interact with these systems become increasingly relevant. While AI doesn't have feelings, some argue that maintaining politeness could be beneficial if we ever face a future with superintelligent AI
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. Others suggest that being polite to AI could help humans build better habits for interpersonal interactions5
.As the debate continues, it's clear that the intersection of AI, human behavior, and resource consumption will remain a complex and evolving topic. While the exact cost of politeness to AI may be disputed, the broader implications for energy use, social norms, and the future of human-AI relationships continue to spark important discussions in the tech world and beyond.
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