OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has revealed that simple courtesies—like saying “please” and “thank you” to ChatGPT—come with a surprisingly high cost, contributing significantly to the company’s electricity expenses.
Altman made the comment in response to a user on X (formerly Twitter) who inquired about the financial impact of polite interactions with AI. He replied that the cost amounted to “tens of millions of dollars well spent,” adding cryptically, “You never know.”
Chatbots like ChatGPT are powered by large language models (LLMs), which rely on massive computing infrastructure hosted in energy-intensive data centres. These facilities are driven by thousands of high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs), which handle the complex parallel processing needed to interpret prompts and generate responses in real time.
The energy demand is substantial. A single AI-generated response—such as a short email or paragraph—can consume up to 0.14 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, the equivalent of keeping 14 LED bulbs lit for one hour. With billions of interactions daily, the cumulative power consumption is enormous.
Globally, data centres already account for around 2% of total electricity usage. With the rapid rise of AI tools like ChatGPT and the growing demand for generative AI services, experts warn that this figure could increase sharply in the coming years.
While some may view polite phrasing when engaging with AI as unnecessary, many experts argue that it actually enhances the quality of the interaction.
Kurtis Beavers, a design director for Microsoft Copilot, supports using respectful prompts. He notes that politeness isn’t just about good manners—it also influences the tone and constructiveness of AI responses.
“When it clocks politeness, it’s more likely to be polite back,” states Microsoft WorkLab, a digital publication focused on AI’s integration in the workplace.
So, while saying “please” to an AI may come with a literal price tag, proponents argue that it fosters a more respectful and productive digital dialogue—an investment, it seems, that OpenAI is willing to make.
Source: New York Post
