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“ I wonder how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs from multitude saying ‘ please ’ and ‘ thank you ’ to their models . ”

It was aseemingly random questionposed by a exploiter on X ( formerly Twitter ) , but OpenAI CEO Sam Altmanjumped in to replythat typing those Word has added up to “ tens of zillion of dollars well spent — you never have it away . ”

Judging from Altman ’s tongue - in - cheek shade , it ’s probably safe to assume he did n’t do a accurate calculation . But his reply prompted Futurism tospeculate about whether it ’s actually a waste of timeand electricity to be polite to ChatGPT and other generative AI chatbots .

Apparently , being polite to AI is n’t just an unnecessary use , misplaced theanthropism , or awe of our succeeding computer overlords . Instead , Kurt Beavers , a director on the design squad for Microsoft Copilot , saidthat “ using polite language sets a timber for the response , ” and that when an AI model “ clocks politeness , it ’s more probable to be polite back . ”

That say , profanity has its usestoo .

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