News Summary

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has disclosed that polite interactions with ChatGPT, such as users saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you,’ have contributed to millions of dollars in operational expenses. This revelation followed a query from a user on X (formerly Twitter) about the potential cost of politeness in terms of electricity usage for OpenAI. Altman humorously confirmed that these polite exchanges have indeed been costly but suggested that the expense was ‘tens of millions of dollars well spent.’ Kurt Beavers from Microsoft Copilot added that using polite language sets a tone for the response, indicating that AI models tend to reciprocate politeness.