According to ChainCatcher, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says that the computing power and electricity consumed by users saying polite phrases like "please" and "thank you" to ChatGPT are causing OpenAI to lose millions of dollars. Engineers like Carl Youngblood believe that "being polite to AI is a moral obligation, and harsh daily interactions can lead to a decline in interpersonal communication skills". Josh You, a data analyst at EpochAI, states that with model and hardware efficiency improvements by 2025, each ChatGPT query consumes about 0.3 watt-hours of electricity, and polite language will not generate significant energy consumption.
According to a Future survey in December 2024, 67% of US users maintain politeness with AI assistants, with 55% believing it is the right behavior, and 12% doing so out of fear of AI "holding a grudge", with these users worried that in the future, when AI develops consciousness, it might treat humans differently based on historical interaction attitudes.
