OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says polite words like 'thank you' and 'please' to ChatGPT lead to billions of yen worth of electricity consumption

Some people may find themselves saying 'please' and 'thank you' to the chat AI ChatGPT, but OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has acknowledged that such polite behavior could be generating billions of yen in electricity consumption.

Sam Altman Admits That Saying 'Please' and 'Thank You' to ChatGPT Is Wasting Millions of Dollars in Computing Power
https://futurism.com/altman-please-thanks-chatgpt

Your politeness could be costly for OpenAI | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/20/your-politeness-could-be-costly-for-openai/

It all started with a post by a certain X (formerly Twitter) user asking, 'I wonder how much electricity OpenAI is losing by saying 'please' and 'thank you' to its AI models.'

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

— tomie (@tomieinlove) April 15, 2025

The post received a variety of reactions, with OpenAI CEO Altman responding by saying, 'Tens of millions of dollars are being spent, but I have no idea.'

tens of millions of dollars well spent--you never know

— Sam Altman (@sama) April 16, 2025

Technology media TechCrunch pointed out, 'Based on Altman's joking tone, it's clear that he didn't do precise calculations.'

On the other hand, Futurism reports, 'While it may seem pointless to show respect to chat AI, some AI architects believe it's an important behavior. For example, Microsoft design manager Curtis Beavers said that proper etiquette ' helps to produce respectful and collaborative outcomes .'

According to Beavers, if you are polite to the chat AI, you will get a polite response, but if you use provocative or rude language, the AI may say something unpleasant to you.

In addition, a survey published in late 2024 found that 67% of American respondents said they treat chat AI with courtesy. Of those who said they treat AI with courtesy, 55% said it's because it's the right thing to do, and 12% said they treat the algorithm with courtesy to appease it in preparation for an AI rebellion.

About 70% of AI users treat AI with courtesy - GIGAZINE

The Washington Post, in collaboration with a research team from the University of California, has investigated the impact of creating a 100-word email. As a result, it was revealed that creating one 100-word email requires 0.14 kWh of electricity (the amount of electricity needed to light 14 LED lights for an hour). If an AI were to generate one 100-word email per week for a year, it would consume 7.5 kWh of electricity, which is roughly equivalent to the electricity consumed by nine households in Washington DC for an hour.

Given that chat AIs like ChatGPT process a huge number of prompts every day, it's easy to imagine that being polite to them would waste a lot of resources, Futurism pointed out.

Data centers running chat AI already account for about 2% of the world's energy consumption, a figure that is likely to grow even higher in the future.