San Francisco, California – A playful inquiry on social media about the electricity costs incurred by OpenAI due to politeness towards its models sparked a lighthearted exchange between users and the company’s CEO, Sam Altman. Altman responded by suggesting that the expenditure, in the realm of tens of millions of dollars, could be worthwhile – even if the figure was not definitively calculated.
The banter raised the interesting question of whether pleasantries like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ towards artificial intelligence chatbots are merely frivolous gestures that waste energy. According to Futurism, Altman’s comment led to speculation on the subject, debating whether niceties are meaningful in human-robot interactions.
Contrary to popular belief, politeness toward AI may serve a purpose beyond reassurance or projection of human traits onto machines. Kurt Beavers, a design team director at Microsoft Copilot, suggested that using courteous language could influence AI responses, setting a positive tone for interactions. Beavers noted that politeness towards AI models can result in them reciprocating the same level of decorum in their replies.
Interestingly, the conversation surrounding the usefulness of politeness also brought attention to the role of profanity in human-computer dialogues. While politeness may foster respectful interactions, there are instances where the use of profanity could be justified in certain contexts.