OpenAI CEO and tech billionaire Sam Altman recently admitted that people politely saying "please" and "thank you" to their AI chatbots is costing him bigtime.
When one poster on X-formerly-Twitter wondered aloud "how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs from people saying 'please' and 'thank you' to their models," Altman chimed in, saying it's "tens of millions of dollars well spent.".
While it may seem pointless to treat an AI chatbot with respect, some AI architects say it's an important move.
Microsoft's design manager Kurtis Beavers, for example, says proper etiquette "helps generate respectful, collaborative outputs.".
One Washington Post investigation, done in collaboration with researchers at the University of California, studied the impacts of generating a 100-word email.
They found that just one email requires .14 kilowatt-hours worth of electricity, or enough to power 14 LED lights for an hour.
Now imagine the tens of thousands of lengthy prompts we're feeding chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT on the daily — not exactly low-impact. »