OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman shared on social media platform X that the use of "please" and "thank you" costs the company tens of millions of dollars. This was reported by Futurism.

While polite communication with chatbots may seem trivial, some AI architects find it beneficial. For instance, Microsoft design manager Curtis Beavers says that proper etiquette "helps generate more useful outcomes".

A survey conducted at the end of 2024 showed that 67% of respondents in the U.S. reported being polite when interacting with chatbots. Of this group, 55% said they do it "because it’s the right thing to do," while 12% claimed it was to appease the algorithm in case of an AI uprising.

Although many experts assert that we are far from an AI revolution, user politeness can already create tangible ecological impacts.

In an investigation by the Washington Post, conducted alongside researchers from the University of California, the energy consequences of generating a 100-word email were examined. They found that producing a single email requires 0.14 kilowatt-hours of energy, enough to power 14 LED bulbs for an hour. Sending one email per week over a year would consume 7.5 kWh.

Data centers powering these chatbots already account for about 2% of global energy consumption, and this figure is expected to rise.