ChatGPT CEO Gladly Loses 'Tens of Millions' When AI Users Are Polite: Money 'Well Spent'

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took to social media to indicate that the money lost by his company when users are polite to ChatGPT is money "well spent".

Altman recently revealed that users implementing good manners when speaking to the AI chatbot, such as saying "please" and "thank you" to it, costs OpenAI millions of additional dollars in operational expenses.

However, the CEO took to X (formerly Twitter) to express his peace with the money lost by his company in this capacity.

"I wonder how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs from people saying 'please' and 'thank you' to their models," one user questioned on April 15.

"Tens of millions of dollars well spent--you never know," Altman responded.

However, the use of manners can also be beneficial for AI chatbots. Kurtis Beavers, a director on the design team for Microsoft Copilot, revealed in a Microsoft WorkLab memo that "using basic etiquette when interacting with AI" assists the AI in generating "respectful, collaborative outputs."

He added that being polite to the AI "not only ensures you get the same graciousness in return, but it also improves the AI's responsiveness and performance."

In the US, 67% of people reported being polite to AI chatbots compared to 71% of people in the UK, according to research conducted by Future in December of 2024.

A further survey of the respondents who reported being impolite to AI revealed that they did so for the purpose of brevity and to save time. Furthermore, about 12% of respondents reported being polite to the AI for fear of facing consequences in the future, which may be what Altman was alluding to with this "you never know" message.