Saying “Thank you” to ChatGPT comes with a price, but it may be worth it.

The debate surrounding whether to show politeness to artificial intelligence may appear contentious – considering it is not human.

Nonetheless, Sam Altman, the CEO of artificial intelligence company Openai, recently discussed the costs associated with adding prompts like “Please!” or “Thank you!” for a chatbot.

In response to a query about the electricity costs incurred by Openai due to people using polite phrases with the model, Mr. Altman humorously replied, “Ten million dollars well spent. You never know.”

It’s important to note that every question posed to a chatbot incurs expenses and energy consumption, and additional words only contribute to raising the server costs.

Neil Johnson, a physics professor at George Washington University who specializes in artificial intelligence, drew a parallel between extra words and packaging used in retail. Just like you need to unwrap packaging to get to the product, the bot needs to process prompts, adding to the workload.

Considering that the ChatGpt task involves energy-intensive transitions, Dr. Johnson questions the source and sustainability of this energy.

Given that the AI industry heavily relies on fossil fuels and the environmental implications, there might not be a solid justification for being polite to artificial intelligence from a cost and ecological standpoint. However, cultural reasons may play a role.

Many discussions have been centered around the treatment of artificial intelligence within human society, with references to pop culture like Star Trek and studies from research institutions like Pew Research.